[lucozade]

Well ive now got about the same number of hours on each of these two iem's
and im quite taken with both, i instantly liked the golds while the coppers have grown on my more slowly over the last week,maybe i had a problem with the fit or the tips of the copper,or maybe the drivers of my coppers were stiffer and took more time to become more flexible releasing there full sound potential i dont know ,i was'nt getting the full treble response from them ,but i seemed to have over come that problem now and there sounding pretty fine to me.

The coppers seem abit more senstive to what tips on them than the golds.

Over all id say they are very similar sounding iems with only small differencies ,the bass is heavier and has a bit more depth and more impact on the golds, but its not really a night and day difference.

The vocals and mids in general on the coppers are stretched forward a little more than the golds to my ears giving me the impression that the coppers present a thinner wall of sound than the golds, to my ears the vocals sound just a tiny bit unnatural on the coppers,can't really put my finger on why that is,but i dont really notice it unless i start analizing the sounds im hearing

Treble is fairly evenly matched on both sets,bright with a certain amount of sparkle without being sibilant,both pick out lots of detail and are quite senstive to imprefections in a recording ,i listen to a lot of vintage recordings from the 50s,60s,70s many of which are mastered to cd from vinyl ,the coppers pick this up more than the golds

Soundstage is actually smaller and quite intimate on both sets than i initally thought.
These deffently require more juice than most of my iems to reach a decent listening level ,so benifit greatly from being amped,

All things said and done i dont feel the either one is better than the other or should be priced higher than the other,both seem to have the same technical abilitys to me ,and i would not be suprised that a good equalizer could make either one sound identical to the other as there not a miles apart to start with.

 

[the search never ends]

@ lucozade, it sounds like you're getting close with the coppers, those buggers are a bit of work, and arrive at a final sound sig much slower than the Gold and MD.....don't ask me why, all I can say is the very sane thing you're saying has been repeated over and over ( including myself).then suddenly the Copper seem to make a turn for the good.
Just sharing what I and many ohers have heard with the Coppers.

 

[lucozade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by the search never ends /img/forum/go_quote.gif @ lucozade, it sounds like you're getting close with the coppers, those buggers are a bit of work, and arrive at a final sound sig much slower than the Gold and MD.....don't ask me why, all I can say is the very sane thing you're saying has been repeated over and over ( including myself).then suddenly the Copper seem to make a turn for the good. Just sharing what I and many ohers have heard with the Coppers.

@search,

yep think im about there search,the coppers do seem to be very intollerent to the wrong tip or fit,i liked the senn double flange on them alot but found that as i moved around after a while the edge of the tips would squash over the top of the speaker tops making them seem really distant sounding ,this happend on the right side more often than left but both could be affected, enyway gone back to the stock large triple flange, had these in my ears all day and no reacurrance of the problem and i think the burn in stage has reached its climax ,think i have around 50ish hours on them now, and im very happy with there sound.

As ive already said i think the two are far more simlular sounding than they are differrent, the coppers have a bit thinner bass than the golds and a more forward vocal and mids than the golds, treble is really nice on both.

Its kinda strange that the coppers would be much harder to find the right tips and that they should require a longer burn in to achive its final sound sig and i did notice it got better than worse than better several times during the last 50hrs, but the sound has been consistantly good for the last 10hrs so i think im there,and they do sound pretty impressive

I now feel im ready to play a few albums with both sets to see how they really compair,i will start with the eagles hell frezzies over, the last time i played that with the golds i was'nt to impressed, way to much bass ,but than again i only had 3-4hrs on them at the time ,and if i remember correctly it took about 15hrs or so for the golds to settle down bringing the bass into line and the treble extending to its final brightness so it sould be very intresting,
by the way the coppers are sounding very nice now !

 

[lucozade]

Its been 10 days or more now since i started to listen to the coppers now,at first i was not all that impressed with them, they didnt sound much differrent to the golds strait out of the box ,infact id say they didnt sound as good, but a lot of the problem was that they are so much more finieky about what tips sound best on them ,and also the coppers take some serious burn in to open up and reach there optimun level of performance.

thousands of songs later they sound very powerfull and dymanic while being highly detailed like a mature full bodied glass of wine,i will stress that all listening after the first day was done with a ipod classic through line out doc to p3+heron.

When i did the eagles hell freezes over test on the coppers the album just sounded so right ,vocals were clear and uncoloured, guitars were bright and crisp,bass was very tight and articculate ,drums sounded very crisp and natural.On the golds the album sounded alot warmer and everything seemed to have less room to breath, the bass was very detailed but just to warm and intruded into the mids colouring the vocals,guitars had less bite ,it just was'nt the same experience at all.

The bass is always present when called upon by the recording and is tight,powerfull and solid whith a decent amount of detail ,and it never over shadows the mids or treble

The mids ever so slightly forward are really quite lovely electric guitars and electric bass sound really nice on the coppers,infact this is my favorate iem for those two instrements,accustic guitars and other stings sound good on the coppers ,but dont carry the quite the same weight as they do on the ortofone or the se530 ,the timbre of the drums also sounds very nice on the coppers,vocals are natural and smooth and never sibilant(getting the right tips is essentual in making the mids sound natural, it took me days of trying differrent tips befor i found that the large stock triple flange worked best for me, i find that when you insert these you need to push them right in then wiggle them back and forth a few times untill you hear a popping sound rather like a sink plunger,this seems to expell the trapped air which can make the coppers sound distant if this is not done.


The treble is one of the most detailed ive ever heard on a dymanic, id say more so than the ie8, the amount of micro details the coppers can pick out never stops to impress me, im hearing little tingly bells and triangles,tamberines im missed befor even on the heavest of music.

Some people have said that the coppers are bass heavy, i have to disagree i find the coppers to be one of the most balanced iems ive ever heard,no frequency is dominate,all co-exsist very happily together.

Soundstage is quite good ,i think it has more depth than it is wide and the coppers are very good at giving locational que's as to were the differrent instrements are placed within the soundstage.

Fit & isolation ,i find them to be very comfortable,im able to wear them all day without eny discomfort and isolation is top notch ,its even very good when the music is not on.

Cable ,the cable is made from a soft rubber/silicon and is nice and soft and dose not really tangle,and ive heard no microphonics from these.

Playing the dutch group GOLDEN EARRING live 2cd set just sounds fantastic on these and just blows me away on these little beauties, great vocals,(no sibilance) soaring electric guitars solos sounding so sweet,tight articculate bass,crisp punchy drum beats,The audience whistles can be clearly heard coming from differrent areas within the soundstage ,some from the center front,some from the left rear,or right rear or front left or right ,center back etc,so there is great depth of sound there.

I think i can say these have nocked my custom 3s off of the top spot in my collection with the coppers combination
coppers custom 3
sound quaity 10 9
isolation 10 10
comfort 9 7
build quality 9 9
cable quality 10 6

 

[Kunlun]

Great review, Luco!



You really settled on the stock triple flanges, huh?
That's interesting, I'll have to check them out again.
I've been digging the auvios recently.

 

[soozieq]

Great impressions Lucozade. I agree that the Copper's bass isn't heavy at all. It's very well balanced to my ears. I'm still enjoying them a lot, and even though the MD's sound very very nice, I kind of like the less warm signature of the Coppers for now. Strings do sound more lifelike with the MD's but the warmth might end up being a deal breaker for me. I don't know yet, but I'm enjoying putting them both through their paces

 

[KLS]

@lucozade, so your Copper dethrone your Custom 3 in your IEM Kingdom. Just wonder when will the Copper be dethroned

 

[lucozade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kunlun /img/forum/go_quote.gif Great review, Luco! You really settled on the stock triple flanges, huh? That's interesting, I'll have to check them out again. I've been digging the auvios recently.

@ KUNLAN, hi, yes the triple flange seem to give me the most balanced sound and the best highs,i never tryed the auvios,and the pfe tips just made the coppers sound to thin.
I liked the sound from the large senn double flange but found there was to much movement in my ears and the tips must have been getting squashed over damping the sound.

 

[lucozade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by soozieq /img/forum/go_quote.gif Great impressions Lucozade. I agree that the Copper's bass isn't heavy at all. It's very well balanced to my ears. I'm still enjoying them a lot, and even though the MD's sound very very nice, I kind of like the less warm signature of the Coppers for now. Strings do sound more lifelike with the MD's but the warmth might end up being a deal breaker for me. I don't know yet, but I'm enjoying putting them both through their paces

Thanks soozieq ,finally we have the same iem at the same time

and the coppers still hold your affections after a couple of weeks,thats quite rare for you me thinks

Thanks for the offer of the mds ,did you have to pay custom charges as they were sent to you by a private person ,i know when ive bought things from the american amazon site to save money ive allways been hit by custom charges which wipe out eny savings which is no fun when you have to wait 2-3 weeks for things to get here.

 

[lucozade]

Well ive now got another twenty hours listening time on the ortofons, so what are my thoughts on them at this moment?

I think pretty much all i said about them in my initall thoughts (a few pages back) still hold true, i still find there transparancy and purity of sound unequaled among my other iems,although im not ready to say that they are my favorate ,they are very good and i love there sound but find there sound signiture can sometimes leave me a little fatuged after a long session,but for 2-3 hrs at a time there great.In many ways there sound kind of reminds me of the westone 3 ,but without the sibilance and a much leaner ,cleaner and better controlled bass.

There sound has changed a bit over the four days that ive listened to them, mainly the treble, out of the box it was very tame and polite while at the same time being sparkly,it is now making its presence much more lively,still sparkly with lots of detail and speed.

The bass is the frequency that can be changed the most by differrent tips,
the senn double flange seems to tighten and narrow the bass response some,while the monster pro single silicon tip seems to fatten up the bass more and maybe dampens the sparkle of the treble slightly

The mid range is slightly forward in the mix with the focous on the vocals.,electric guitars sound nice ,but a bit thinner sounding than on the coppers i think.

So far ive only heard sibilance with one singer on the ortos,and ive tryed lots on them ,the ortos handle well with country,rock,pop, so far i think the ortos perform best with rock music,as they have the speed for it and also the power in the bass

Over all they deffently sound more like armiture drivers than they do dymanics.

 

[DaeO]

Hi Lucozade

Its a shame you haven't got any etys in your arsenal, as I'd be interested to know how these compare to the ortofons, unless you've heard any before?

 

[lucozade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaeO /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hi Lucozade Its a shame you haven't got any etys in your arsenal, as I'd be interested to know how these compare to the ortofons, unless you've heard any before?

hi daeo, no not heard the ety's and from what ive heard they have fantasic treble but not much bass

i like treble but i must have my bass too ,so thats why ive stayed away from them, im intrested in the new japannese jvc fx700, which have wooden casings around the drivers, but dont know when or if they will be on sell here

 

[DaeO]

Not true about the bass - only if you have a poor fit

 

[lucozade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaeO /img/forum/go_quote.gif Not true about the bass - only if you have a poor fit

Really , have you got or heard the etys daeo? if so what is the bass like and do they produce sibilance with all that treble?

intrested in your thoughts.

 

[Kunlun]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lucozade /img/forum/go_quote.gif @ KUNLAN, hi, yes the triple flange seem to give me the most balanced sound and the best highs,i never tryed the auvios,and the pfe tips just made the coppers sound to thin. I liked the sound from the large senn double flange but found there was to much movement in my ears and the tips must have been getting squashed over damping the sound.

Hi Luco,
That's a good point about the pfe tips, they DO sound noticeably thinner than the gel supertips (not to overstate it, but I can hear a difference). I'm glad I got the pfe tips, they are so fiddly to get the right sound it's like a training system for learning how to get the best sound from any eartip! And they still sound quite good, but I went back to the gel supertips and I realized that I hadn't fit them quite right when I first got the coppers. Putting them in like the pfe's and man, the sound was richer. Monster puts them on the MTPs right in the box for a reason, I suppose.

Could you say a little more about how the senn double flanges sound when they aren't smushed?

I was thinking of ordering some from ebay.
Double Flange Earbuds for Sennheiser CX300 CX400 CX500 - eBay (item 200451606576 end time Apr-17-10 06:58:16 PDT)

Also maybe these: (are these the UE clones?)
Double Flange Ear Bud Cushion for Sony In-Ear Headphone - eBay (item 200450761266 end time Apr-14-10 19:42:49 PDT)

How do you like the foam supertips? I think they are pretty swell for foam tips. Maybe not the absolute best, but for some laid back listening with nap on an airplane, they'd be just fine, I think.