[Fantasysage]

Long time lurker first post. 
 
I am vexed. My Shure SCL4's cable finally went and I was not buying another shure with their terrible build quality. So I did a little reading and got a set of UE Trople Fi 10's off of amazon. SO I get them today and jack into my PC to test them out. Now while I know creative X-Fi is not the be all and end all of soundcards, it sounds just great with my Grado 325is's. 
 
These headphones sound muddy and lack any sort of definition. The sound is 75% bass, 20% mids and 5% highs. They sound like a 7 dollar pair of Colby headphones that I got at a bodega once. What gives? I got a set of Comply tips to go along with the purchase and they make no difference. I tried my Cowon i7 loaded with flacs and they all sound like crap to.
 
So are these some sort of fake? Did I get a pair that is just broken, does that happen?
 
EDIT: I just noticed that my pair has a right angle connector on the end when every press photo I see show them with a straight connector. They also didn't come in a blue box, just the black one.

 

[aleki]

check if the cables are out of phase. the line on the end of the cable should be facing towards the tip of the drivers. I never thought of them to be that bassy, but they do sound different.

 

[Fantasysage]

Quote:

check if the cables are out of phase. the line on the end of the cable should be facing towards the tip of the drivers. I never thought of them to be that bassy, but they do sound different.

They are correct.

 

[sari0n]

Amazon doesn't sell fake headphones.  Are you sure you're getting a good seal?  Your lack of highs is sort of weird, the triple.fi 10's have plenty of treble.
Not sure what could be wrong.  Defective triple.fi 10's don't seem to be all that common.

 

[Mkubota1]

I would also suspect a fit issue.  I myself have never heard of fake TF10s anywhere, let alone on Amazon (someone else may have?).  Fit issues are usually equated to a lack of bass.   Are you wearing them the right way- with the memory cable going over and behind the ear?  TF10s are notorious for fit issues but you should at least be able to hold them in your ears to verify that the drivers and everything else is working correctly.  As with all IEMs, be sure to go through all of the tips before you give up.  Also, generally speaking the foam Comply tips will reduce the treble output significantly, so you might want to stick to the silicone.

 

[Fantasysage]

Silicon tips scare the hell out of me because I don't see any wax filter on these headphones.

 

[aleki]

ah, that would explain the muddy sound. If you insist on the comply's, flip them so the core of the comply's extend into your ear. the lip on the comply's tend to collapse into your ear, making your headphones sound muffled

 

[FearSC549]

Read my thread about it
 
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/536683/why-does-my-triple-fi-sound-like
 
Basically it's an impedance problem. Some amp has different input/output impedance which screw with the crossover system(and the 3-driver configuration) of the TF10. 
 
From my experience, an easy fix to this problem(without buying new source/amp) is to use the airplane attenuator. This makes the impedance match the TF10's. It might degrade a bit of sound quality, but at least it won't sound muddy with no highs. 
 
 

 

[sari0n]

The triple.fi 10's do have a wax filter, it's the red and green things you see while looking down the nozzle, so silicone tips will be perfectly fine.

 

[Mkubota1]

Quote:

Basically it's an impedance problem. Some amp has different input/output impedance which screw with the crossover system(and the 3-driver configuration) of the TF10.

Very interesting because I was about to say the same thing before I read the part where he tried it on a different player.  When I tried plugging mine into one of my integrated amps, it sounded like I had the treble knob turned all the way down.  I thought that it might be the headphone jack or the 1/4" adapter I was using.  But I didn't have this problem with a number of other headphones/ IEMs.  I guess it's somewhat common- luckily I don't have the issue with any of my 'Pods or portable amps.

 

[Fantasysage]

Seems that maybe it was an impedance problem and me being mad at the same time. I listened to for a half hour or so on the commute in this morning on my cowon and it sounded great. Guess I was so ticked last night that when I tried a few tracks on the cowon I wasn't listening straight O_o
 
 
Still waffeling about keeping them or not. They are big, fit poorly, feel like a plastic toy, and don't always work with what you plug them into. Not sure why they have such a following.

 

[Mkubota1]

Quote:

Still waffeling about keeping them or not. They are big, fit poorly, feel like a plastic toy, and don't always work with what you plug them into. Not sure why they have such a following.

Because if you have strange ears like mine and they fit, they sound friggin' sweet! 

  BTW, I used to think they felt cheap too (especially compared to my $60 MDR-EX300s, my Klipsch X5s or especially my aluminum Denon 751s), but after getting some Westone W4s, the UEs don't look too bad.

 

[sari0n]

Quote:

Because if you have strange ears like mine and they fit, they sound friggin' sweet! 

  BTW, I used to think they felt cheap too (especially compared to my $60 MDR-EX300s, my Klipsch X5s or especially my aluminum Denon 751s), but after getting some Westone W4s, the UEs don't look too bad.

Lol, are the Westones that bad?
I didn't think the TF10's were poorly built at all.  I think the metallic plastic is sort of cheesy which may make them seem a bit cheap but they're really quite solid imo.

 

[mvw2]

Odd.  I've never had a problem plugging my Triple.Fi 10 into anything.
 
By the way, the black box, right angle one is the older model.  Nothing on the earphone was changed, but the cable was.  The newer cable is a little thinner, a little more flexible, and the tip changed from right angle to straight and significantly cheaper.  The newer model also came with Comply tips stock because so many people had fit issues and bought Complys anyways.  You can buy your own if you want.  Also take your time fitting them.  It may take a week or two just fiddling with the memory wire to get them in the right spot to sit in the ear well and seal well.
 
If you want a suggestion for helping soak up some of the highs, grab the Comply TX-500 tips with the built in wax guard (you want that anyways).  Then take a Q-tip and pull off some of the cotton.  You can pack a small amount of cotton in the Comply tip behind the wax guard to add high frequency filtering and cut down the top end a little.  Add as much as you see fit to modify the sound as desired.  I would swap out the cotton every so often though as it is organic and can carry bacteria.  Unfortunately, any filter medium like this can suck out some of the fidelity from the sound.  You may lose some smaller details doing this.  I often prefer to negate using a filter and EQ instead.

 

[buffalowings]

it appears the phones from the amazon gold box deal are the older version with glossy cable and right angle plug