[kiteki review] Audio Technica ATH-CK10 - "the Calvin Klein..." (+ various IEM sound impressions) - Page 4

I haven't heard any Westones, sorry.

The W2 failed to attract my interest, and the J-phonic supposedly sounds better than the W4, so I'll be skipping the W4 as well.

I seem to have started some sort of a balanced, neutral or reference-quality IEM collection, with the CK10, ER-4, RE0, J-phonic, and RE252.

However, I haven't received any of those last 4 yet, 3 of them are on the way, or rather I'm on the way home and they're at the post-office, and I'm going to buy the RE252 today I think.

The last few months I've been listening to the Sony MDR-EX700, so it'll be refreshing to get back home to that new stuff, along with the Yulong U100 Dac/Amp and ATH-A2000X headphone... jeez, I've spent a lot since I traded the ck10.

Ok I'm currently at Singapore airport in transit, I arrived at 9.30am and my next flight is at 9pm so I have many hours to kill and I've been scouring the electronics stores here with earphones (there are quite a few).

I'm compiling a list here for myself to keep track of everything I've listened to so far in the last few hours, in order.

Shure SE535 - store 1

Audio Technica ATH-ANC23 - store 1

Dr. Dre Beats Studio - store 1

Sony MDR-EX600 - store 2

Sony Piiq Q1 - store 3

Sony EX1000 - store 3

Sony ZX500 - store 4

Jays t-Jays - store 4

Shure SRH-840 - store 5

Shure SRH-940 - store 5

Jays v-Jays - store 5

Jays q-Jays - store 5

The Piiq Q1 was connected to a Sony S something DAP, and the Sony ZX500 cable went into the wall.  So the zx500 isn't a valid demo, I could tell the sound was enhanced somehow, it sounded pretty OK though, but the Piiq Q1 was cooler, I was impressed by that one, I think it would be a real hit with teenagers and responded really well to the bass enhancement and "Club" reverb setting on S something DAP, that's the limit of my impressions on those two.

For the rest, I used a Teclast T51 DAP for all of them, and a variety of music (used the same tracks repeatedly).

Quick examples of tracks used

Violin - Janine Jansen performing Vivaldi - L'estate RV 315 III

Female vocals/pop - Veronica Maggio 2011 album "Satan i Gatan" (the Shure SRH-940 was so good at this I almost wanted to cry)

Electronic (artists) - L'Ame Immortelle (Sony EX600!!), Unter Null (SRH-940!), Mitsuto Suzuki, DJ Murasame, Ayria.

Live music - Bjork, track "So Broken" from Homogenic (2003) performed live.

Quick impressions

The Sony EX600 is stunning!!

The Shure SE535 is rubbish!

The Shure SRH-940 is muddy, borderline rubbish!

The Shure SRH-940 is stunning!! (you redeemed yourself, Shure)

Quote:

Originally Posted by iLrr11x 

do you have a frequency response test for the ultimate ears 700 ? I heard that they have exceptional highs and mids but the bass is just a little bellow par, a perfect earphone would to have the comfort and mid/highs of the ultimates and the bass of another earphone :/

You were right! The highs and mids are really exceptional, but the bass is a little below par.

I found this in the headfonia dual-driver review:

"In fact, the UE700′s treble is quite special as it is very airy in comparison to the other dual-drivers. The DBA-02′s treble is also blessed with good articulation and detail. I particularly like the UE700′s treble for acoustic instruments, as I think the rendition is perfect for those music."

Exactly my thoughts here, the air and highs are like no other, they're like the Etymotic ER-4S but more exciting, UE tuned this TWFK really well, imho.

Edit: The bass is really really nothing special though, especially the sub-bass, it's somewhere along the lines of RE0, the CK10 is more present in the sub-bass than the UE700, and the EX600 and EX700 are a distinct notch better than both.