I Am Looking For An Accurate IEM! - Page 2

Totally agree.  It's something that's lacking for the RE0, the RE-ZERO, and even the RE252.  I do like that the RE-ZERO does have good dynamics and energy and can to a degree portray a decent amount of decay, definitely an improvement over the RE0.  The RE252 offers an uncanny amount of note impact and does offer some level of decay, it to is a little lean in body.  I think this is largely a side effect of these earphones operating with tiny, sealed enclosures.  None of the designs for these offer a loose enough driver to really fill out the note.  Hopefully the RE262 fixes this shortcoming, and what little impression exists with them, they seem to offer more bass presence.  In the $200 price range, the RE252 is still the best option though.

 

If you want a heartier note, there are other eaprhones out there that will offer that.  The Klipsch Custom 3 and UE Triple.Fi 10 readily come to mind, and both can be bought for under $200.  I might also include Denon's C751 too here.  However from a purely analytical standpoint, I would still lean someone mostly to the RE252.  Despite the lean low frequencies, I feel the outstanding midrange and treble are well worth it and the excellent note impact and note speed on the low end does certainly help offset the lean body.  They are however a little hard to fit in the ear given you have to both comfortably fit the gummy and tip.  The best route is a foam tip like Comply T-500/TX-500 which offers a lot of compliance to let the gummy position comfortably in the ear and enough compliance left over to easily seal the ear canal.  Part of the challenge to get a really good seal with these things does make a lot of user probably rarely hear a well sealed impression of these earphones, or if they do, probably not comfortably.  Do it right, and you're rewarded with a lot better low end presence and good comfort.

 

I want to toss in the very classic king of them all, the ER4S.  Since this can be bought new for under $200, the ER4S should never be overlooked when accurate reproduction is sought.  There is a reason why this still exists and is still highly regarded even after +15 years of competition.

mvw2 those Customs 3s are pretty much the only BAs on my radar and I might get them sometime in the future.

 

In terms of that reverb the MDs are the best I heard IMO. I'm pretty sure the driver has to be at least 10mm and the housing appropriately big and made of metal so it all tends to sum to bring what I hear in them. I know you've heard the golds so it will similar but a bit better all round fwir. These are of course not analytical but will say realistic in their own aspects. Not wanting to hijack the thread but it's really very easy to confuse a flat frequency response to a realistic sound which isn't the case at all from my experience. I just want to add the drawbacks of looking at it from that perspective.

 

Let me second mvw2's recommendation for the Etymotic ER4S if you want a truly neutral presentation.  If you want a bit more bass, get the ER4P which has a bass boost compared to the ER4S according to Etymotic's specs (I don't have an ER4P).  An adapter on the ER4P will bring it to the linearity of the ER4S.  Note that the ER4S IEMs are a bit hard to drive.  You'll find yourself on the upper range of an ipod volume control for any loudness in many classical recordings.  Overly compressed pop and rock doesn't suffer from this deficit.

 

I can also second the UE Triple.Fi 10.  I personally like the tasteful bass emphasis the Triple.Fi 10s gives music compared to my ER4S.

 

A third option that I've liked has been the UE700.  As you read the posts here on head-fi, these are polarizing IEMs; individuals either love or hate these.  I like their form factor, relatively neutral response, and transparency.  I just did an A-B between the UE700s (comply tips) and the ER4Ss (Ety black foam) listening to a track off this week's new album, Remixed by Bond.  The music is full bodied with the UE700, the highs are present without being overwhelming, the bass is extended without being overbearing, but has a bit of a bass hump.  In contrast, the ER4Ss pull out the violins, presenting them dancing around your head, as well as the high hats, cymbals, brushes, etc., while the bass lines take some concentration to follow.

 

What did you read about the Panasonics that turned you off to them?  Aren't you tempted to listen to them for yourself?

I'm curious, when you said "your recordings" in your original post, did you mean you intend to use these earphones for monitoring of music you have made yourself? In which case I think you should consider something like the Audio Technica CK90 Pro as a neutral professional monitor.

 

If you are just saying that you just want transparency or neutrality, then I think you will be pleased with the MC5's - or probably anything from the Etymotic line. I haven't heard much that is transparent as them, and if you didn't like the sound of the Panasonics I doubt you will be very pleased with something like the Monster Coppers...

Going to vote the Etymotic ER4P - most analytical IEM's I've ever heard....

Well, that doesn't seem like a particularly good review. Mildly informative, but I don't like when people described recessed mids as an inherently bad thing. Besides, mids move forward after some time, the right tips, and/or the foam mod. I honestly didn't find mine(which have hundreds of hours of on them, probably over a thousand, actually) to have mids very much more behind the etyomic MC5s I recently bought. Certainly the mids on the MC5s were more noticeable, because the bass and treble wasn't as prominent, but in termsof quality I didn't find them to be any better than those of the HJE900.

I will say that if you are going under the typical idea of "accurate" the MC5s are probably the better choice. I don't consider that idea to be "music as it was meant to be heard", though. The 900s come much closer to that, for me. Impact is important for percussion, and it's positioning and soundstage are much superior, imo. But that's just my preferences, the MC5s are way closer to neutral.

It also seems that the more recent shipments of the HJE900 aren't really suffering from the filter issue, given the relative lackof complaints relative to the number of people that have bought them recently. Perhaps panasonic has donesomething about this. In either case, it really is a very easy issue to remedy, and opens the way for foam modding.

Given your criteria, they may not at all be what you're looking for,but I think it's a goodidea for you to givethem a shot, as you said you would.

The filters are harder to remove probably. My pair took a while to figure out how to remove them as I was modding them. They have a sticky residue on the edges of the filter that make it pretty secure.

I would have to put my vote in for the ER4 P/S as well. I have been listening to them far more since I got them than my RE0 or even *gasp* my HD 650s

accurate = etymotic. If your budget is $200, buy the er4's off amazon, and take the extra 30 to buy some Starbucks. 

I can't really say, as I've never heard them.

Also check Headroom's B Stock page.  There have been some open box Ety's showing up there lately at good prices.