HD-25 and amperior. The best when it comes to portable on the ear HPs with a great mid bass hump and isolation. Soundstage isnt great though, More suitable for rock, metal and bass heavy music. Your other best alternative is V-Moda M80s if you're looking for a slightly open sounding phone with...

Good decision. You can consider a used one. These age bautifully...hardly have any wear and tear so why not pay less for one which has gone through the burn in and has hours behind them.

hd-25s do rock and metal better. I was in the same dilemma along with a friend of mine who got m-80. I auditioned hd-25s after that as I had a benchmark of how m-80s sounded. hd-25 drivers have the right pace, attack, mid bass hump, timing that you need for rock and metal. I find it better than...

I've developed a special bond with these IEMs. I've put in 18 hrs, 7 days a week on an average at work over the last one year and I've spent more time with these phones than with friends, family, hobbies. I've recently gotten over this phase and moved into a new role at work. Throughout the...

May come down to the genre your listen to. For rock/metal, signature of hd/25 is a better conductor. For accoustic. ambient, classical and others could be preferred. You could chose amperior for both. It took me 30 mts of listening to amperior and thinking really hard to decide it wasnt worth it...

Just to also add...my biggest disappointment was...For the price, 'no pleather pads' included in the package, which on the hd-25 makes the presentation a bit more forward and aggressive compared to the velour pads. And it's great to have both these to keep switching as and when you wish. My...

I have had the hd-25 1 ii for the last few months. After reading this thread, I had made up my mind to get the Amperior, no matter what. I live in Oxford, UK and we dont have Apple retail store in our town. The closest place I figured would have a store was Reading where I took a train to...

But the OP is looking for portability....K550 is not suitable for that while the isolation though is best in class for home use, again not ideal for when on commute.

There is none which meets your criteria of portability, sound quality and isolation. It's Hd-25-1 ii. These are gems. I have compared the isolation of these with some real good passive sound blocking IEMs and they come closest when compared to any other open/closed on ear or over the ear...

Starting from ground zero and looking at first real IEM purchase couple of months back, I was sold on the GR07. My friend has it and lent it to me for a few weeks. I absolutely loved everything about it. A non intrusive neutral sound which did drums really well. This was important for me as I am...

amp not required...easy to drive though you have to raise the volume couple of notches over when compared to JVC FXT90s.  But I am sure an amp will positively influence the overall SQ, but definitely not a 'must have'.

I agree. Progressive Rock/Metal sounds excellent on EPH-100. They have the right kind of sound signature for bands like Rush, Liquid Tension Experiment, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Dream Theatre...due to it's above average instrument seperation and quality of bass. On extremely congested metal...

Quote: In my experience, it will be hard to get an optimal fit right the first time. It's all trial and error till you figure out what works...you can have 2-3 different stock tip sizes work for you..but what I recommend is...go for the one which is 'large enough; to give you a good...

To Miow's credit, a lot of things he's said, have unfolded with time...For eg: EPH-100 sounding better on the default sansa player compared to rockbox is so true on sansa clip 2 atleast. Another point was how the treble quality changes and growing on you from loathe to like and love over a...

Quote: 'Better', not as subdued as it were brand new. On the other hand, my FXT90s have amazing treble with a very rounded bass...but it definitely causes fatigue quite quickly with its agressive delivery. You have to be in the FXT90 mood to handle its agressive sound. EPH-100 is quite...