Taowolf51
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2009
- Posts
- 1,878
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- 202
Hey all, I've been a full size headphone junkie for years and am now looking to possibly jump over to CIEMs for a few reasons like portability, isolation, comfort, and lack of sound leaking.
Currently, my two main headphones are the Denon D7000 and the Audeze LCD-2. I'm looking for a CIEM that rivals these headphones (especially the LCD-2) and ideally, replaces them.
There's one main problem, though. I've never liked any of the IEM's I've ever owned. Admittedly, it's only been two, the Westone UM2 and the Hifiman RE-600. However, it does still worry me, but is one of the main reasons I'm considering trying the CIEM route. I feel as though there is either is something up with the shape of my inner ear that is making it difficult for universal IEM's to sound good, or I've just been unlucky.
At the moment, the CIEM's I'm most interested in are the 1964 V6 and V8, the Heir 8.A, the Westone ES5, and the JH Audio JH13 and JH16 Freqphase.
The 1964's seem to be both the most affordable and some of the best looking, which is alluring. The 8.A seems to often be compared to the LCD-2, which has me interested, the ES5 is known to be punchy, and the JH models were praised like mad in that big Innerfidelity shootout.
However, the fact that Heir is based outside the US has me worried about the quality of customer service (I notice companies that have a large presence in the country I live in also seem to have better customer service), and the fact that JH does not reshell their models worries me about potential resale value.
I know 1964 offers universal demo units, do the other companies do the same?
The sound I'm looking for is energetic, dynamic, fast, punchy, textured, detailed, and euphonic with an excellent transient response but plenty of kick and unusual amounts of texture (what I find in Audeze headphones). Frequency response is ideally flat with a very slight treble rolloff and a moderate bass hump down to the deepest subbass. I currently EQ my LCD-2's, but I'd rather not do that with a portable CIEM (not sure if I can find a portable parametric EQ). I've tried most high-end headphones, and my ideal is pretty much the LCD-X with maybe a tad more bass. I am very fond of good quality 3D soundstage and imaging, but not having that isn't a deal breaker, I'm sure there are limitations to IEM soundstage.
I like to listen to a fairly wide range of music genres, and I like my headphones to be decent all-rounders (I prefer to have one really good headphone that I use for everything rather than multiple). My favorite genre is probably experimental electronic music (non-dance).
Here are a couple of examples:
I'm interested in any thoughts and experiences with CIEM's vs high end full size headphones and with what CIEM would best fit me. Also, any information on how resale is affected and CIEM amplification needs would also be very helpful.
Thank you guys!
Currently, my two main headphones are the Denon D7000 and the Audeze LCD-2. I'm looking for a CIEM that rivals these headphones (especially the LCD-2) and ideally, replaces them.
There's one main problem, though. I've never liked any of the IEM's I've ever owned. Admittedly, it's only been two, the Westone UM2 and the Hifiman RE-600. However, it does still worry me, but is one of the main reasons I'm considering trying the CIEM route. I feel as though there is either is something up with the shape of my inner ear that is making it difficult for universal IEM's to sound good, or I've just been unlucky.
At the moment, the CIEM's I'm most interested in are the 1964 V6 and V8, the Heir 8.A, the Westone ES5, and the JH Audio JH13 and JH16 Freqphase.
The 1964's seem to be both the most affordable and some of the best looking, which is alluring. The 8.A seems to often be compared to the LCD-2, which has me interested, the ES5 is known to be punchy, and the JH models were praised like mad in that big Innerfidelity shootout.
However, the fact that Heir is based outside the US has me worried about the quality of customer service (I notice companies that have a large presence in the country I live in also seem to have better customer service), and the fact that JH does not reshell their models worries me about potential resale value.
I know 1964 offers universal demo units, do the other companies do the same?
The sound I'm looking for is energetic, dynamic, fast, punchy, textured, detailed, and euphonic with an excellent transient response but plenty of kick and unusual amounts of texture (what I find in Audeze headphones). Frequency response is ideally flat with a very slight treble rolloff and a moderate bass hump down to the deepest subbass. I currently EQ my LCD-2's, but I'd rather not do that with a portable CIEM (not sure if I can find a portable parametric EQ). I've tried most high-end headphones, and my ideal is pretty much the LCD-X with maybe a tad more bass. I am very fond of good quality 3D soundstage and imaging, but not having that isn't a deal breaker, I'm sure there are limitations to IEM soundstage.
I like to listen to a fairly wide range of music genres, and I like my headphones to be decent all-rounders (I prefer to have one really good headphone that I use for everything rather than multiple). My favorite genre is probably experimental electronic music (non-dance).
Here are a couple of examples:
I'm interested in any thoughts and experiences with CIEM's vs high end full size headphones and with what CIEM would best fit me. Also, any information on how resale is affected and CIEM amplification needs would also be very helpful.
Thank you guys!