Affordable IEMs, canalphones, or earbuds - Page 4

I must have been looking at it Saturday.  They had it for $39 instead of $49.  I'll keep looking around then.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tzjin 

 

Haha sorry, sorry. If you want, a 75 ohm adapter will down the background noise a bit, but it may alter the FR of the IEM as well.

I was really joking.  Considering its age, I think the X5 still sounds really good, but I've been planning to upgrade it for a while, just can't decide to what.

I just went into the nurse's office to drop something office and she sees my IEMs and hands me an article about how earbuds are contributing to hearing loss.  I'm really not too worried as these aren't my main headphones, but I always throught the hearing loss applied to the old style iPod earbuds that didn't block out noise.  Blocking out outside noise and turning down the volume a bit saves the hearing, does it not?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe Bloggs 

My impression of difference between the 3580 and 8005:

Red: 3580, black: 8005

I did these impressions by running sine sweeps through a parametric equalizer till they matched a reference frequency response to my ear then inverting the EQ graph.

 

The 3580 is also v-shaped, but in a better sounding way, with less midbass-to-low-mids bloat.  The low-treble spike contributes to a sense of clarity but can be too aggressive for me.

 

I like a player with EQ myself, the more flexible the better.  The 10-band EQ on Poweramp (player app on Android) made the 3580 sound much better to my ears with an A-shaped EQ curve (but then you usually use the Rock EQ eh?) but these days I run all music files through a parametric EQ on my computer before storing them on the phone.  Still there's much to be said for getting a pair that sounds right out of the box (well, after burn in, if you believe in that).  The 3580 does sound right out of the box to many.

 

Another pair I can recommend after personally auditioning is the Sony XBA-1.  That's a bit out of the "cheap" range but not exactly expensive.  It ticks many boxes in my head without EQ and has a meatier low end and less aggressive highs than the Etymotics.

 

Hope you get better soon!

My opinion of the 8000s has gotten a little better with some break-in.  First off, I don't like V-Shape in general.  Thats what an EQ is for.  I don't mind them as secondary headphones (hence my plan to buy DT990s eventually, but bought DT880s first).  That said, if I keep my EQ flat on my player, I find the boominess to have settled, but that the bass is still encroaching on the mids.  The mids have come out a bit, but between being slightly recessed and being incroached on by the bass, aren't quite where I like them.  The highs are actually pretty good.  I think I could probably adjust the EQ to tone down the bass and pull out the mids, but I'll see if I like the 3500 series any better first.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AstroTurf 


When do you go into the hospital?
And how far into Northern Virginia are you?
If you want to meet in the Fredericksburg area on Tuesday, I could just lend you my MC5s.
Jim

The surgery is Wednesday morning, so I'm staying up in Baltimore on Tuesday night...otherwise I may have taken you up on that offer.  My original neurologist sent me to a surgeon who wanted to open my chest to remove a small gland and only performed about two a year.  This surgeon does it arthoscopically and performs about 20 per year (which is considered quite a few, considering the rarity of the disease).  I'll be in the hospital for between four and seven days, so I'll try to provide an update on my condition sometime after I'm home.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rickdohc 

i could be wrong but, if you dont like V shapped sound and boomy bass, stay away from the 3580. They also have a big boomy bass.  

Use your EQ with those 8000 , later on buy a better earphone.

You may be right, but if I'm going to buy better ones later on, I'd rather go with the $10 option now and save the $30 for the better headphones.  They made a point out of telling me I had 30 days to decide if I like them, so I figure I'll try them out and see.

Since I'm not used to IEMs, this gives me a couple different ones to compare, anyway.  Granted I'd rather compare Philips to JVC or Sony, but I don't have enough time to burn the JVCs in and I've been unhappy with Sony in the past.  That was a long time ago, though, they could have changed they're headphones.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rickdohc 

i could be wrong but, if you dont like V shapped sound and boomy bass, stay away from the 3580. They also have a big boomy bass.  

Use your EQ with those 8000 , later on buy a better earphone.

If you think the 3580/3590 have boomy bass, then you've never heard the 8000s.

3590 vs 8000 comparison:

If this were a contest to see who could build the best IEM housing, the 8000 team would win hands down, but that's about the only category they would win in, imho.  BTW, no burn in time on the 3590s, same initial test using the first half of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (why?  Because I felt like listening to it yesterday).

Construction/Comfort:  8000 wins this category hands down.  Both have thin cables, but the 8000 isolates the noise of the cable from the driver.  It also has a right angle connector, slightly better comfort, and more complete noise isolation.  I couldn't hear anything listening to music on the 8000, on the 3590, low sounds were isolated, high sounds--like crinkling paper--are almost enhanced.  Plus the cable noise is a bit annoying on the 3590.

Moving onto the sound:

Both have a V curve--that said, the curve on the 3590 is much flatter than the curve on the 8000.

Bass on the 35 still extends fairly deep, not quite as deep as the 8000, but gone is the obnoxious boominess that was definately directed toward the beats crowd.  Its a much more livable sound, that can now be adjusted easily to your desired preference using the EQ, whereas on the 8000, I found I was stuck with a flat EQ in order to live with the bass.

Once the 8000 is broken in, I found the highs between the two to be very similar.  Still slightly more shimmer in the broken in 8000, so I guess the 3590 does have a flatter response, but they both have very good treble reproduction (especially for cheap headphones).

Mids:  The more I think about it, the more I find that they are actually similar, the difference is that the bloated bass and the upper shimmer encroached on the mids and made the sound recessed on the 8000s.  Maybe there are slightly recessed, but on songs that had very little bass, the mid reproduction actually sounded pretty good.  On the 3590, on the other hand, the mids are much more pronounced.  They still take a back seat to the bass/treble, but I don't find those frequencies encroaching on them and pushing them to the back.

If you can't tell, I definately (sp), like the 3590s better.  I really wish I could get the 3590s with the same construction quality as the 8000s, but I'll go with the better sound any day.  Not sure why they were $10 online and $15 in the store, but I'll call customer service and see if I can't get my $5 back (maybe they'll send me a coupon).  If they were both $15, I might have kept them both as they sound different enough that I'd occasionally use the 8000s.  At $30, they're definately going back.  Not sure if that $30 will go toward my Bottlehead to an expensive pair of IEMs, but there's a better use for it than boomy headphones.

Yeah, it does go both ways, but I'd prefer a headphone that works well with the EQ presets and I can add bass boost or use them with a flatter response.  I have a month to return them, so I can play around with them at the hospital, I suppose.  It sucks that they seem to have put the better drivers in the cheaper headphones.  Someone exec at Philips probably listened to them and said, "These are flat, and these sound like my beats..."

Thanks for these 3590 suggestions.  They worked out great.  If they had better build quality I wouldn't even feel the need to replace them with better IEMs, but the cord noise bothers me too much.  Plus the quality control is pretty bad.  They sent it out without one of the silicone earbuds.  If I can't get it from Philips, I'll just have to exchange it.

I meant to give the SHE8000 one more try, but these were good enough that I felt no need.  To bad they don't make both with the better build and give consumers the choice.  Also, they don't pick up the hiss as much, so I might see what I can do about putting a 64 gig card into my X5 before I upgrade to a new unit.

You would think so.  The chat guy wanted me to pay $15 for a new set of tips on a $15 headphone.  I might try they're call in customer support, but its probably just as easy to exchange them if I can find the right color.

Also, I'm thinking of using these as throw around IEMs and also picking up a better set.  My sister gave me a $50 Amazon gift card for my birthday that I then went and used on gifts for their kids.  I've been feeling kinda bad about that (that they essentially bought their kids the presents I gave to them), so I'm looking to spend that $50 and maybe add a little more.  Is there something in that price range that would sound good?  Or should I just use these cheap ones and save the money for my bottlehead amp?

Hmm.  I'll have tot think about whether I want to exchange these (I do like them, but the noise from the cord rubbing against my clothes is bothersome), or return them and try the Panasonic.