The discovery thread.! NEW Jant71's take on the new ATH-CLR100 Pg 618.. Zero Audio Carbo Basso PG... - Page 5

If you mean the Philips SHE3580 rather than the thermaltakes, I can just say that they are less microphonic than the etys ER-4, and you can also wear the cable over the ear, which further reduces microphonics. Since the buds are closed, tiny and, dare I say, aerodynamic, wind noise is unobtrusive too.

Exactly, I read most of your post,  I did also read that you had that thermal take with you, but man..that is surprising, thought it was too good to be true, to hold good earphones and forget about it. Now I Know how you got the phillips, thanks very much. And the A900x isn't a scary thing to buy from audiocubes, but better for a price drop to occur. Again, thanks for putting your effort into the duds Dsnuts. EDIT: Perfect for gaming, man..dailogue is so clear with this art monitor headphone. (Problem with that also occurs ear ringing seconds go by until I am quick to mute or lower volume levels) Enough about that though, I'm just happy even more gems came out. I wish most people had this kind of feeling when they actually tried good audiogear.

Edited by vlenbo - 12/24/11 at 11:06pm

Go to a TJ Maxx or Marshall's and you might see plenty of these Philips SHE3580 series IEMs for $7 or $8. I bought mine back in May and I discovered that my EQ almost cancels the response they measured at goldenears.net: http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ko&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=goldenears.net. Click on GE Review and you'll see the list of IEMs that they measured.

Without EQ, I find them pretty unlistenable, with overwhelming bass and piercing highs. To me, it sounds excellent when I copy the frequency balance of my speakers (in well-treated rooms, sometimes with digital room correction on top of that, sometimes with a house curve). The headset SHE3575 is $10, sounds pretty much the same, but doesn't have the nice stiff cable:

 

The correction needs only a few bands and can easily be implemented in Rockbox. The Equalizer iOS app actually needs more work, even though it has seven bands. The exact locations of the spikes depend of the particular geometry of my ears. Mine seem to match up more with the dummy head at goldenears (and less with the one that Tyll uses at innerfidelity.com).

There's a lot of heavily-discounted IEMs and headphones at Ross, Marshalls, and TJ Maxx. I've made it sort of a fun sport to pick up the cheapest open-box pair to hear how horrible it is, and to see what EQ it needs. There are a few gems out there.

For example, the Panasonic HJE120 Ergofit, to me, sounds better without EQ than the SHE3580. It's still a bit harsh, though. It doesn't have much isolation, which is sometimes useful. It trades isolation for comfort and ease of insertion. It's practically an earbud with a nozzle. I bought mine at Ross for $7. At one time it was $1 at Amazon, but it's usually $5-$6.

 

Over the past few months, I've picked up clearance MEElec, Dynex, Sony, Coby, Philips, Skullcandy, and iFrogz IEMs, as well as JVC Marshmallows, Clear Colors, RipTidz, Gumy+ IEMs, Ear Cushions. I've managed to match the color of the IEM to my outfit.

Using precise EQ to get these closer to neutrality has always resulted in better sound. Phase and time-domain response aren't independent from the magnitude response. I found that after corrective EQ, the imaging sounds more precise and focused, especially with binaural recordings. I wouldn't be surprised if the transient response also measures better.

I found it easier to correct the responses of cheap IEMs than those of cheap headphones. Those have so many ups and downs in the response, especially above 2 kHz. It's because you also hear the effect of the pinna.

I can share more graphs, if anyone is interested. But maybe that's the topic of another thread--EQ'ing cheapo IEMs for neutrality (or something closer to it). I'll have to order me some MP8320 sometime.

Edited by yuriv - 12/25/11 at 12:55am

I'm kind of confuse here.. did you actually listen to the two CKM99 and Isurus and compare to conclude that they have the same sound? Maybe they share the same driver, but they aren't the same headphone like maybe the CAL ... 

The Brookstone Dual Drive appeared to be a Radius DDM clone and actually had pretty much the same sound signature as the DDM, but was still no where close to the DDM technically. However, it was still an incredibly good value. I'm just think it may be the same or similar case here... but anyways I await further impressions from people who already bought it :D

Just subscribing.

 

Although out of curiosity, which would be better for sub bass and clarity (high end sparkle)... I want deep sub bass but I also don't want it to be too muddy.

Which of the two would you recommend for that Dsnuts?

 

 

Cheers.

 

Can't vouch for the Thermaltake Isurus but the Philips SHE3580 has plenty of subbass and high end sparkle.  If you like a V-shaped response these will definitely suit you.  On the other hand as yuriv posted an A-shaped EQ curve is a good compensation for them to bring out the vocals.  I did a variation of PiccoloNamek's EQ tutorial and arrived at pretty much the same EQ shape as yuriv.

 

As I said, YMMV on the need to actually equalize the Philips.  My brother (after over an hour of testing!) didn't like either the treble cut or the bass cut, preferring the original sound of the SHE3580.

Dsnuts, I think the TT are using the CKM77's driver. The CKM77 have a 13mm driver like the TT and have the same sound sig as the CKM99 (which you say the TT sound just like).

My first sq-test of budget fi. Ran out to pick up a pair at the local store.

 

Immersive sound. Doesn't work on everything though. On busy bass-heavy sources like action movies, it sounds congested and struggles. But then, it's probably unfair to compare to what I'm used to for clarity (re262, um3x, jh13, he6). 

 

For pop and techno, it sounds much better than expected. Very musical. Clear highs, punchy bass. All this out of my iPhone- my HM801 ran out of juice. 

 

As for fit, it is indeed small, but I don't care for the harder clear silicon tips they provided. I've always preferred soft black silicon tips.

 

More comments to come. 

jelt2359 from your description you bought the Philips SHE3580 right?  Lol it will be hard to tell the two wonderful phones apart unless people specify which one they're talking about!

 

I bet you find them "congested" only because they have too MUCH subbass.  And a bit too much midbass too.  I made a gradual cut on them in EQ starting at 500Hz and ramping them down to about -10dB at ~150dB (all the way down to 20Hz--with a good seal these don't drop off in the bass at all, as measurements show.  10dB is quite a substantial cut, but remember I come from the bass-light Ety ER-4P) and since then they have been THE phones I use for action movies.  Explosions with real OOMPH and crystal clear dialog and impactful transients.  (well, I cut down some on the treble too, but I cut down the treble on the Ety ER-4P as well)

Edited by Joe Bloggs - 12/25/11 at 3:35am

mic is pc only
 

 

The Philips SHE3575 is a version of the SHE3580 with inline mic for phones.

 

Yes, I was referring to the Philips SHE. You may be right about eq. Afterwards I fired up another scene, still action packed but a bit less bass/ explosions. It was clear and immersive. Will test more with my full rig in a bit.