[Poochymama]

After many months spent researching IEMs for sub $100 I decided to go with the Head Direct RE0. Suffice it to say I'm not completely satisfied. My main gripe with these things is that they have absolutely no bass. The specifications say they play down to 15hz, and maybe they do, but as far as I can tell, there is a complete and utter lack of that mid-bass slam. Coming from my old headphones ( The Speaker Company NC-3) this is very noticeable problem. In terms up upper/mid clarity, I think the RE0 may beat the NC-3(it's close but I do feel like they are a bit better in this regard), but anything below about 100hz, the NC-3 completely dominates the RE0.
 
Don't get me wrong, I really am trying my best to enjoy these things, after all I just spent $80 on them, but it's tough having come from the my last set of headphones( which I got on sale for $15). The mids/highs are some of the best I've heard from a headphone, but the bass outputs is about the same as the $10 IEMs I bought at Wal-Mart(I'm honestly not exaggerating this that much).
 
I remember seeing possible mods for these headphones but after looking for a few hours, I can't seem to find anything. I found a foam mod, but that seems more for the mids/highs which imo are already excellent. My question is, does anybody know any modifications I can make to these to increase the bass output? At this point, I'm willing to try just about anything. That being said, maybe I'm just expecting too much out of these things? I really expected these to trump my old headphones in just about every way, and in many ways I do think they hold a slight edge(mids/highs), but the overall lack of bass impact makes my old headphones considerably more desirable to listen to, and they only cost me $15. Granted my old headphones were full over the ear noise cancelling phones, but everything I read before buying these said that generally active noise cancelling phones were a notch below in terms of SQ. Is it simply impossible to compare the two?
 
Sorry for such a long winded first post, any help would be greatly appreciated as I am pretty new to the headphone scene.

 

[ClieOS]

RE0 is never a bass heavy IEM. Any mod you tried to bring out more bass will cost you something else. The few things you could try include: switch to a more power source (cost money), get a decent amp or one with bass boost feature (also cost money), use a pair of Comply TX400 or put a little more foam into the nozzle. burn it in and get used to it, or simply EQ. I'll say you should try the last one first.

 

[Vegeta55555]

another way is to buy a meizu 6 sl (or another version) this player has the most and the best (deep) bass ever!
(you can boost the bass without distortion! It´s just more and nothing else)

 

[Poochymama]

I tried using the EQ on my IPOD, but it seems to cause significant distortion on many of my tracks. I can still send them back, if I do, I have heard good things about the Klipsch S4, the Visang R03, and the Hippo VB. Maybe I should just try one of those headphones?

 

[ClieOS]

You might also want to consider asking them to exchange it for a pair of RE-ZERO if you are willing to add a little bit more money and the use of an adapter? Just a suggestion of course.

 

[Vegeta55555]

@ Poochymama: maybe you can "rockbox" your ipod, (rockbox has a great eq!)

 

[Poochymama]

Hmm, that sounds interesting. The limited reading I've managed to do since I read your post makes it seem somewhat promising. Would you say the Rockbox EQ is better than the default Ipod firmware EQ?

 

[Vegeta55555]

yes, it´s the biggest strength of rockbox. 

 

[Max F]

Get a FiiO E5 amp and use the bass boost.  It should get you about 80% of the bass you need for aroudn 20 bucks.

 

[AirX]

agreed with Max, I was just about to say that I use my RE0s with FiiO E5s and the bass boost not only brings out more bass volume but it seems to make that whole sound signature a lot warmer and less analytical (a good thing) with mid/high details still very present and sweet. It's a great low-cost combo....
I'm still waiting for my PA2v2s to arrive in the mail and see how it works with my RE0s.