[SilverEars]

  Yeah, my main problem with my Klipsches is that lose their seal. In fact if I simply smile, I guess the ear canal changes shape and the seal is lost which, as you mentioned, seriously degrades the sound (mainly bass). Its a big problem as the primary use of IEMs for me is when I'm working out, which causes movement but also sweating....So perhaps the combination of over-ear and foam inserts would do a lot to alleviate my issue?

Yeah, you maybe more of a foam, comply guy given you lose seal in that manner.  I have no issues of that sort with silicones, but I mainly use customs now. I think the over ear like shures are more beneficial for people that listen on the move.  ER4P's triple flanges stay in place with deep insertion, but he problem is the dangling cable transfering noise to the canal which significantly degrades the sound(masking the music).  This is cause from movement creating cable dangle microphonics.  This is the benefit of over ear fit, you avoid that.  Keeping a consistent fit as you move certainly not degrade the bass.

 

[truckdriver]

  Well, I could not read al the 396 pages.. but Ive read some complains regarding channel imbalance.  Mine is getting into the same problem, the left earbud is getting a weak bass if compared to right one. Ive tried to clean the nozzle, change the tips, no results so far. I think Im gonna send it back to Shure and wait =/

 
I can't explain why mine stopped having the channel imbalanced problem. In fact, I am now using the same filters that I thought may have been the problem. They work fine after I reinstalled them. I have not received the new filters that I ordered, but I don't think I need them now. Again, I don't know what happened. I definitely heard an imbalance issue and then it went away and I haven't had an issue since the day I posted about it.
 
The only thing I can think of is it really was a moisture issue inside the earpiece and it dried up. It was a really humid week. I'm glad I didn't send it back to Shure.

 

[moedawg140]

  I am seriously considering purchasing the SE846 but would like to get input on their "staying power" when working out, i.e.: the potential for them to lose their seal. My current Klipsches which are very good IEMs use silicone tips which lose their seal when my ear canals sweat....Any thoughts on this?
 
Thank you,
Scott

 

  Yeah, my main problem with my Klipsches is that lose their seal. In fact if I simply smile, I guess the ear canal changes shape and the seal is lost which, as you mentioned, seriously degrades the sound (mainly bass). Its a big problem as the primary use of IEMs for me is when I'm working out, which causes movement but also sweating....So perhaps the combination of over-ear and foam inserts would do a lot to alleviate my issue?

 
Hi Scott,
 
This is only one person's opinion, but I haven't had much luck with both silicones staying in my ear perfectly while I worked out.  If you try out/use the Westone Star-Tips and have a deep, tight and isolating seal, those may work out for you better than most sizes-fit-all tips.  As for using foam, whenever I worked out with those, the sweat would get on the foam and that made me have to constantly fiddle with both sides, degrading FR, SQ, fit, isolation, etc.  The only option that has worked absolute wonders for me with all different types of workouts has been the Sensaphonics Custom Sleeves.  No sweat gets anywhere near inside of the ear canal so the seal, fit, isolation, etc. is always the most optimal - no matter how I move or how sweaty I get.

 

[warrior1975]

For me the Westone star tips work perfectly for exercising. I also used the active comply tips, which were actually very good as well. Surprisingly. I prefer the Westone over everything else I've tried. At least until I add sleeves.

 

[moedawg140]

For me the Westone star tips work perfectly for exercising. I also used the active comply tips, which were actually very good as well. Surprisingly. I prefer the Westone over everything else I've tried. At least until I add sleeves.

 
If the Star-Tips work for you, that's awesome.  They actually worked well for me as well - only on my more cauliflowered ear.  Once you add the sleeves, I reckon you'll be able to workout even harder with very close to zero sleeve movement (save for the pliability of the sleeves when you move around).

 

[warrior1975]

Yes, best fit I've ever had with an IEM. Still want the sleeves though.

 

[moedawg140]

Yes, best fit I've ever had with an IEM. Still want the sleeves though.

Not to derail the thread too much, but I'm wondering your reason(s) for wanting to purchase the sleeves even when you said the Westone Star-Tips fit you well? Is it to try to reach the Summit-Fi portion of tips/sleeves?

 

[Olisim]

I just posted this over in the AK100 II/120 II but I thought I might reach a larger audience over on this thread.

Ok, sooooooo, a couple days ago, I was at the headphone bar (vancouver) trying out a couple different daps to use with my shure se846. I tried the Fiio X5, ak100 II and the beyerdynamic a200p (just for the heck of it), although I quite liked the a200p and found that it added large amounts of clarity and oomph compared to the headphone jack straight out of my iPhone 5s, I quickly ruled it out because I'm specifically looking for something so I'm NOT having to use my phone for music listening.

So now I was down to the X5 vs AK100 II, they both had the same music loaded onto them (unfortunately, not the same music as on my iPhone, so I couldn't compare those at the time) and I did my absolute best to volume match the two of them, also, my friend was with me so all tests were done completely blind, not knowing which device was which. Long story short, I ended up picking the AK100 II for a variety of reasons, such as better ergonomics, it looks waaaayyy better (IMO) and most importantly, I thought it sounded better, a little more fullness to the sound, and better clarity.

Now, fast forward to last night, I've got all my music, (mostly flac) loaded onto the AK100 II and have been doing some listening, loving the sound, then I start doing some comparisons between my iPhone and the AK

Disclaimer: ALL tests were done completely blind and with the shure yellow foam tips and the blue filters and the stock cable. Also, both devices were using Flac/Alac solely, all in CD quality except for a couple tracks that were in 96/24 on the AK, and Billie Jean was DSD, but those tracks seemingly weren't favoured any more than the others. Also, I'm the only member of my family who uses an iPhone, so no sound signature bias there.

The test tracks were:
1: Schubert string quartet 14 (1st movement) played by Alban Berg quartet
2: Sibelius violin concerto (1st movement) played by Gil Shaham
3: Brahms violin sonata no 3 (first movement) played by Perlman/Ashkenzy
4: Beethoven string quartet no 15 (3rd movement) played by Alban Berg quartet
5: Bach solo cello suite no 6 (first movement) played by Yo-yo Ma
6: Top Rankin off of Bob Marley's Survival
7: a few tracks (strawberry fields, a day in the life, Eleanor Rigby) off of Love by the Beatles
8: Bille jean off of Thriller

Again, I volume matched them as best I could and started with the tests, so here's the thing, I consistently picked out the same traits corresponding to the same device EVERY time, those being, that the iPhone had more clarity, and sounded more forward, whereas the AK sounded more laid back and MAYBE more musical, that's where personal taste comes in, I really couldn't decide on which one I liked more.

I got 3 of my family members to do the same blind tests and they all had the exact same results, being able to consistently pick out the phone from the AK without knowing the differences before hand. One of my family members preferred the iPhone every single time, and the other two were able to pick out the same differences every time, but had different preferences for the sound depending on the track, for example, the iPhone was a little more popular (not always) on the classical music, but moving away from the classical music, the results were more varied.

Now, I'm rather unsure of what to do here, I'll probably try throwing in the white filters to see if that helps, also, I was thinking of getting one of the silver Litz cables from headphone lounge, which may help bring out more sparkle in the sound. I'm just not sure if I want to throw down almost a thousand bucks on something that doesn't necessarily even sound better than my IPhone!

Sorry about the long post, just throwing my thoughts out there........ That being said, anyone out there who is using the AK100 II with the shure se846 I would be very appreciative if you could tell me what EQ settings if any that you use. (I haven't touched the EQ yet)

Thoughts anyone?

 

[Loquah]

I just posted this over in the AK100 II/120 II but I thought I might reach a larger audience over on this thread.

Ok, sooooooo, a couple days ago, I was at the headphone bar (vancouver) trying out a couple different daps to use with my shure se846. I tried the Fiio X5, ak100 II and the beyerdynamic a200p (just for the heck of it), although I quite liked the a200p and found that it added large amounts of clarity and oomph compared to the headphone jack straight out of my iPhone 5s, I quickly ruled it out because I'm specifically looking for something so I'm NOT having to use my phone for music listening.

So now I was down to the X5 vs AK100 II, they both had the same music loaded onto them (unfortunately, not the same music as on my iPhone, so I couldn't compare those at the time) and I did my absolute best to volume match the two of them, also, my friend was with me so all tests were done completely blind, not knowing which device was which. Long story short, I ended up picking the AK100 II for a variety of reasons, such as better ergonomics, it looks waaaayyy better (IMO) and most importantly, I thought it sounded better, a little more fullness to the sound, and better clarity.

Now, fast forward to last night, I've got all my music, (mostly flac) loaded onto the AK100 II and have been doing some listening, loving the sound, then I start doing some comparisons between my iPhone and the AK

Disclaimer: ALL tests were done completely blind and with the shure yellow foam tips and the blue filters and the stock cable. Also, both devices were using Flac/Alac solely, all in CD quality except for a couple tracks that were in 96/24 on the AK, and Billie Jean was DSD, but those tracks seemingly weren't favoured any more than the others. Also, I'm the only member of my family who uses an iPhone, so no sound signature bias there.

The test tracks were:
1: Schubert string quartet 14 (1st movement) played by Alban Berg quartet
2: Sibelius violin concerto (1st movement) played by Gil Shaham
3: Brahms violin sonata no 3 (first movement) played by Perlman/Ashkenzy
4: Beethoven string quartet no 15 (3rd movement) played by Alban Berg quartet
5: Bach solo cello suite no 6 (first movement) played by Yo-yo Ma
6: Top Rankin off of Bob Marley's Survival
7: a few tracks (strawberry fields, a day in the life, Eleanor Rigby) off of Love by the Beatles
8: Bille jean off of Thriller

Again, I volume matched them as best I could and started with the tests, so here's the thing, I consistently picked out the same traits corresponding to the same device EVERY time, those being, that the iPhone had more clarity, and sounded more forward, whereas the AK sounded more laid back and MAYBE more musical, that's where personal taste comes in, I really couldn't decide on which one I liked more.

I got 3 of my family members to do the same blind tests and they all had the exact same results, being able to consistently pick out the phone from the AK without knowing the differences before hand. One of my family members preferred the iPhone every single time, and the other two were able to pick out the same differences every time, but had different preferences for the sound depending on the track, for example, the iPhone was a little more popular (not always) on the classical music, but moving away from the classical music, the results were more varied.

Now, I'm rather unsure of what to do here, I'll probably try throwing in the white filters to see if that helps, also, I was thinking of getting one of the silver Litz cables from headphone lounge, which may help bring out more sparkle in the sound. I'm just not sure if I want to throw down almost a thousand bucks on something that doesn't necessarily even sound better than my IPhone!

Sorry about the long post, just throwing my thoughts out there........ That being said, anyone out there who is using the AK100 II with the shure se846 I would be very appreciative if you could tell me what EQ settings if any that you use. (I haven't touched the EQ yet)

Thoughts anyone?

 
I owned a Red Wine Audio version of the original AK100 and loved it, but when I compared it closely to the X5, the X5 was more neutral and had noticeably better detail retrieval and accuracy with imaging. I've since discovered that the AK100 didn't use a proper amp stage so much as a direct, attenuated feed from the DAC (or something similar - I only understand it at a basic level). The point is that the original AK100 sound smooth and organic and I thought I liked it more, but the reality was that it was too coloured in the long run and it affected accuracy and realism. Perhaps the same is true for the AK100 II.
 
There's no doubt that the iPhones are very good audio players, but the X5 is a definite step up in my opinion so I'd be concerned if the AK100 II isn't also.
 
There was one particular test I used to identify the accuracy of the X5 vs my RWAK100. It's from the Dr Chesky binaural album released a year or two ago. The track is Dancing Flute and Drum. When the sticks are hit together at the beginning of the track you should be able to hear the size and shape of the room very clearly as the sounds reflect and resonate around the room. It'd be interesting to hear how the AK100 II handles it because a large portion of the room was "missing" with the original RWAK100. You could use that track to compare the technicalities of the iPhone and AK100 II.
 
I hope you can either adjust to the AK100 II so you like it more or return it for something else. Good luck!

 

[moedawg140]

I just posted this over in the AK100 II/120 II but I thought I might reach a larger audience over on this thread.

Ok, sooooooo, a couple days ago, I was at the headphone bar (vancouver) trying out a couple different daps to use with my shure se846. I tried the Fiio X5, ak100 II and the beyerdynamic a200p (just for the heck of it), although I quite liked the a200p and found that it added large amounts of clarity and oomph compared to the headphone jack straight out of my iPhone 5s, I quickly ruled it out because I'm specifically looking for something so I'm NOT having to use my phone for music listening.

So now I was down to the X5 vs AK100 II, they both had the same music loaded onto them (unfortunately, not the same music as on my iPhone, so I couldn't compare those at the time) and I did my absolute best to volume match the two of them, also, my friend was with me so all tests were done completely blind, not knowing which device was which. Long story short, I ended up picking the AK100 II for a variety of reasons, such as better ergonomics, it looks waaaayyy better (IMO) and most importantly, I thought it sounded better, a little more fullness to the sound, and better clarity.

Now, fast forward to last night, I've got all my music, (mostly flac) loaded onto the AK100 II and have been doing some listening, loving the sound, then I start doing some comparisons between my iPhone and the AK

Disclaimer: ALL tests were done completely blind and with the shure yellow foam tips and the blue filters and the stock cable. Also, both devices were using Flac/Alac solely, all in CD quality except for a couple tracks that were in 96/24 on the AK, and Billie Jean was DSD, but those tracks seemingly weren't favoured any more than the others. Also, I'm the only member of my family who uses an iPhone, so no sound signature bias there.

The test tracks were:
1: Schubert string quartet 14 (1st movement) played by Alban Berg quartet
2: Sibelius violin concerto (1st movement) played by Gil Shaham
3: Brahms violin sonata no 3 (first movement) played by Perlman/Ashkenzy
4: Beethoven string quartet no 15 (3rd movement) played by Alban Berg quartet
5: Bach solo cello suite no 6 (first movement) played by Yo-yo Ma
6: Top Rankin off of Bob Marley's Survival
7: a few tracks (strawberry fields, a day in the life, Eleanor Rigby) off of Love by the Beatles
8: Bille jean off of Thriller

Again, I volume matched them as best I could and started with the tests, so here's the thing, I consistently picked out the same traits corresponding to the same device EVERY time, those being, that the iPhone had more clarity, and sounded more forward, whereas the AK sounded more laid back and MAYBE more musical, that's where personal taste comes in, I really couldn't decide on which one I liked more.

I got 3 of my family members to do the same blind tests and they all had the exact same results, being able to consistently pick out the phone from the AK without knowing the differences before hand. One of my family members preferred the iPhone every single time, and the other two were able to pick out the same differences every time, but had different preferences for the sound depending on the track, for example, the iPhone was a little more popular (not always) on the classical music, but moving away from the classical music, the results were more varied.

Now, I'm rather unsure of what to do here, I'll probably try throwing in the white filters to see if that helps, also, I was thinking of getting one of the silver Litz cables from headphone lounge, which may help bring out more sparkle in the sound. I'm just not sure if I want to throw down almost a thousand bucks on something that doesn't necessarily even sound better than my IPhone!

Sorry about the long post, just throwing my thoughts out there........ That being said, anyone out there who is using the AK100 II with the shure se846 I would be very appreciative if you could tell me what EQ settings if any that you use. (I haven't touched the EQ yet)

Thoughts anyone?

Real quick, before I divulge more into your post...wow. Great tests that you administered, blind AND used multiple subjects. Bravo! Eye-opening findings, for sure. May I ask, what media player did you use when administering the tests? If you used Neutron Media Player, all of the subjects may have liked the iPhone in every genre, not just classical. When I tested the AK120II and AK240, I did not find their sound signature to be much, if any, better than the iPhone 5 with Neutron and optimal settings enabled. As for EQ with it (Neutron, not the AK), you seriously don't need any, but you can change specific frequencies to suit your own particular wants and needs very easily.

I'm pretty sure that if you get the HL Silver Litz, you'll notice a change in the sound, mainly the mids and highs. The lows will more than likely be tightened. You can't beat (in my opinion) the best electrically conductive cable you can buy for an affordable price.

Again, awesome findings and superb post.

 

[bobby12]

I just posted on another thread that some days I regret buying my dx90 and ak120, but someone told me to go to the sound science forum lol.

IMO it really isn't worth it unless you have extra cash to throw away with nothing else you want to buy, or if you really just want the features.

I think I'll end up selling one or both of them and maybe buy some nice speakers and the SCS! SCS would probably give my se846 a lot more improvement than the AK120.

 

[warrior1975]

Rwak120b FTW!!I love mine. It's definitely a noticeable improvement over both my zx1 and X3.

@moedawg140 I want customs, very curious about them. I figure this is a good way to learn a bit about them, see if there is a noticeable sonic improvement or difference. Plus, I like what you said about working out and it keeping the sweat away from the 8s.
I'm trying to learn as much as I can, get some more experience with this hobby.

 

[moedawg140]

bobby12 I'm am pretty sure the SCS will be a great investment for you, especially if any of the sizes-fit-all tips you have tried do not have the most optimal fit, seal, isolation, etc.

warrior1975 The SCS will be a great way to get into customs for sure, and will probably feel a little better than acrylics. As for sound differences, you may think that the SCS sounds a little bit better, or a lot better than the sizes-fit-all tips you have tried. Everyone's experience with the SCS will be different. And working out...yeah, nothing else holds a candle to the SCS regarding keeping sweat completely out of ear canals - in my honest opinion.

 

[bobby12]

I'm not sure if I'm getting a perfect fit or not. It feels good and isolates as much as my customs though. When I first got it in April I remember it having more bass compared to now. Maybe I'm just used to the bass? Or is it because the ones I'm currently using are made in August? I've always been a medium, but it sounds slightly different this time. Also, the current ones aren't hissing like crazy on my Moto X, it's just a little hiss.

 

[warrior1975]

Are you using the same tips?