aidenn
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Aug 18, 2010
- Posts
- 32
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- 0
Maybe I should start with a little background... (TL; DR below)
I've been a long time anti-anything-in-the-ear guy. I have very sensitive earlobes and avoided the topic like fire. I read for a long time that IEMs are THE portable phones, but I was always afraid that I'll shell out more money than necessary for headphones I won't be able to use for more than, say, one hour. Of course, I always thought that IEMs are supported by earlobes. Ah well.
So I bought Sennheiser PX-100 and fell in love. That was 8 years ago and it was my first foray a bit outside of colored signatures. The PX-100s are also colored, but it's not $15-earbud UBERMEGABASS coloring.
Anyway, I loved my PX-100s and when they broke I came here to look for something even better. After a lot of consideration I picked up V-Jays. It really was even better. At first the different sound signature seemed weird, but I got used to the highs and completely embraced the mids.
And I still love my V-Jays. Only I'm now living in a place where I have to commute a lot and metro is definitely NOT compatible with open headphones. I tried some closed headphones, but there's simply nothing really good with the V-Jays form factor for me. Thus, only one option remained - IEMs.
I learned that most of them don't even touch the earlobes and started researching. After a lot of reading I decided on the DBA-02. It arrived today, I'm still getting used to them, however, I have a few questions.
TL; DR: start here.
1. The sound signature is great. It's a lot different than V-Jays and I was getting used to it for the past 7 hours. However, I have an issue with the highs. I was never a big fan of highs but the V-Jays changed my preferences a lot. This is miles away even from that and I'm very happy I can try something new again, especially since bass is also very punchy and I can't live without bass. Unfortunately, on some songs I hear a lot of sibilance. I can EQ it down, but then I lose that fantastic percussive treble punch I've just begun to like very much (I don't know if it has a proper name). Is there any way around this?
And some fairly stupid questions (there's no user manual with the DBA-02 other than standard safety tips):
2. What should I do with the triple tips? I figured out how to put in normal tips (using the middle-sized ones atm, they feel the best), but I'm completely at a loss with the triple one. I hear no bass whatsoever with it. I saw the picture here in the IEM guide, I think I'm putting it right... are my canals not compatible with the triple tips?
3. What the hell am I supposed to do with the over-the-ear guides? I doubt I'm supposed to squeeze the cable in that small valley on the outer rim...
4. There's also one other item in the pack - a black, rubber key-like something with holes. What's that for?
Thanks for reading and cheers!
I've been a long time anti-anything-in-the-ear guy. I have very sensitive earlobes and avoided the topic like fire. I read for a long time that IEMs are THE portable phones, but I was always afraid that I'll shell out more money than necessary for headphones I won't be able to use for more than, say, one hour. Of course, I always thought that IEMs are supported by earlobes. Ah well.
So I bought Sennheiser PX-100 and fell in love. That was 8 years ago and it was my first foray a bit outside of colored signatures. The PX-100s are also colored, but it's not $15-earbud UBERMEGABASS coloring.
Anyway, I loved my PX-100s and when they broke I came here to look for something even better. After a lot of consideration I picked up V-Jays. It really was even better. At first the different sound signature seemed weird, but I got used to the highs and completely embraced the mids.
And I still love my V-Jays. Only I'm now living in a place where I have to commute a lot and metro is definitely NOT compatible with open headphones. I tried some closed headphones, but there's simply nothing really good with the V-Jays form factor for me. Thus, only one option remained - IEMs.
I learned that most of them don't even touch the earlobes and started researching. After a lot of reading I decided on the DBA-02. It arrived today, I'm still getting used to them, however, I have a few questions.
TL; DR: start here.
1. The sound signature is great. It's a lot different than V-Jays and I was getting used to it for the past 7 hours. However, I have an issue with the highs. I was never a big fan of highs but the V-Jays changed my preferences a lot. This is miles away even from that and I'm very happy I can try something new again, especially since bass is also very punchy and I can't live without bass. Unfortunately, on some songs I hear a lot of sibilance. I can EQ it down, but then I lose that fantastic percussive treble punch I've just begun to like very much (I don't know if it has a proper name). Is there any way around this?
And some fairly stupid questions (there's no user manual with the DBA-02 other than standard safety tips):
2. What should I do with the triple tips? I figured out how to put in normal tips (using the middle-sized ones atm, they feel the best), but I'm completely at a loss with the triple one. I hear no bass whatsoever with it. I saw the picture here in the IEM guide, I think I'm putting it right... are my canals not compatible with the triple tips?
3. What the hell am I supposed to do with the over-the-ear guides? I doubt I'm supposed to squeeze the cable in that small valley on the outer rim...
4. There's also one other item in the pack - a black, rubber key-like something with holes. What's that for?
Thanks for reading and cheers!