Yeah at this price they are hard to beat. I guess most, if not all, stocks at NCIX are gone by now...   Quote:

Oh is that the truth behind it? I haven't followed anything about the 555s and 595s in two years so I have no clue about this. If that is true then I would retract my previous statement and vote the 555s as well.   Quote:

Yeah isolation is better than 555s and barely any leakage unless you crank up the volume really high.   Quote:

I much prefer the 440s (minus the coiled cable). Higher resolution and less grainy than 555s, with a good warmth in midrange (Shure signature sound). Bass quantity is average at best, and soundstage is average for a closed-back, and isolation is ok but nothing to write home about.

I got an email from NCIX. This weekend (Oct 2-3) they will have HD555 for $79.99, in-store only. Limit 2 per customer. Best price I have seen in Canada. Don't know if they are b stock or brand new, but you can't beat this price.

  Quote: IMO I would definitely pay the little extra to get the 595s. The difference was actually quite large to my ears, especially in resolution.

Never heard 238, but I can maybe comment a little on the Shure. It's quite big, and I do not like the cable. It's coiled and heavy. And they are not bass heavy, more midrange oriented, quite similar to the sound signature of E4C (but a lot more refined and airy/transparent). If you want more...

lol and I originally thought OP caught in a cold ...

The Shures are soft sounding... can be too polite for some. If you want something very aggressive you might as well look elsewhere. The ER4P/S don't have much bass quantity wise, and overall the sound lacks weight, but incredible treble and neutral. If you really have to choose from the list...

Errr... I thought the HD25s are quite small compare to many other cans I see on the street (e.g. Sony's). I've seen a few guys wearing them around town and looked fine to me. Let me tell you something, I used to wear HD280s around before getting myself a pair of IEMs...

Yeah so that wasn't a source issue then... It's probably the driver then. I'm on my 2nd pair of KSC75s now and personally haven't experienced this before. I wonder though, if the cable has solid core or stranded. If it's indeed stranded and a couple of the thin wires got broken inside...

Active noise cancelling tend to only cancel a small range of frequency (usually in the lower spectrum, engine sound/hummings would be gone); passitive noise cancelling provides attenuation across all frequency ranges (no more screaming babies). A pair of good passive noise cancelling IEMs is all...

Have you tried reversing the channels? (through software on a pc for example)

I'm not sure about the Senn, but the Monsters...that's way below retail price... well when something is too good to be true you know something outta be wrong. And there are many counterfeit Senns on the Internet. So you've been warned about eBay purchases.

I suggest you email Westone and see if they can provide you with a list of authorized retailers in Canada.

How about the SRH440? Should be under $100.

Interesting read...I was looking for the KSC35s as well back then but couldn't find them anywhere so I opt for the 75s instead. I've then got the PortaPros as a loaner pair which I think are indeed better than KSC75s, much smoother and darker sound, but do they worth the $20-30 premium over...

What is your source? Just iPod? First the UM3X's are extremely sensitive, they will pick up all kinds of distortions and background noise from your source. For example I could clearly hear my harddrive noise out of my USB soundcard. And secondly, if the tracks are from same album ripped at...

Quote: Originally Posted by mark2410 well the 530 spank the um2 up and down the place, W3 is 530 competition not the W2 No the SE530 don't... they have totally different sound signature and I actually prefer UM2's midrange to SE530. So it is all personal preference and taste...

Well any normal IEM will be stereo in nature, so 2 channel only. So I don't know how those multi-channel soundcard solve the problem. It is just physically unrealizable... Also for the surround sound cables... I think that's pure marketing gimmick.

Quote: Originally Posted by dr.weird Edit: However, the microphone is going to need to be compatible with my pc... Does anybody know if iphone compatable microphones work with a pc as well? I highly doubt that. Usually the sound card on a pc has two stereo jacks, one for input...

Quote: Originally Posted by vfalks Thing is, I'm not an audio novice, I'm just new at head-fi . I am a serious audiophile with serious home theater gear. When I upgrade, I UPGRADE . I don't do it very often, so I want a serious phone which will serve me well for a long time. As noted...

I just find the SE530s having this rather grainy sound and monotoned bass. So I prefer UM3X much more, personally of course. EDIT: I didn't find the SE530s grainy 2 years ago when I tried them in a local audio store. I guess my ability of distinguishing finer sonic details becoming better...

If you are really looking for large quantity of bass, then W3 are definitely the better pick between them and the UM3X. For a novice, I would recommend something like W3 or the IE8, they are the more "fun" IEMs. And as for laptop as a source, price tag on laptops do not always justify better...

Got myself a new laptop for school not long ago... Lenovo Thinkpad X200 C2D P8600@2.4GHz 3GB DDR3 1066 250GB 5400rpm HDD 12.1" WXGA X4500 IGP Intel BGN Wifi 6-cell battery