They're brilliant for rock. Basically they are a very good all-rounder, except possibly for classical because of the slightly recessed treble. Coming from the TF10 you may miss the sparkle, but the mids will probably more than make up for it :)

Wow, that combo looks good!

Quote:   Yeah I get what you mean, it's accurate but musical... a truly rare gem in the world of IEMs :) Yes, you expressed what I meant where you say that it keeps what's been recorded.. Binaural recordings sound brilliant, and well recorded/mastered albums like The Dark Side of the...

Quote:   Ah yes, the HiFiMAN HM 60x, HM 80x and upcoming HM 901 also have line-outs, I think. But I doubt you'll be needing a separate dedicated amplifier on those players.

Quote: That's funny, for me, coming from a pair of Etys I immediately fell in love with it.    On a side note, I'm not sure why people complain about the lack of soundstage in the UM3X. It's deliberately designed that way - when a musician is onstage, they want to be able to hear...

Quote:   Oh, sorry haha; my bad.

Quote:   I believe the Sony Walkmans have a line-out, and the Sansa Fuze+ does as well. If I'm not mistaken there is a USB dock you can buy for your Samsung phone for line-level audio... although that may be desktop only.

Better soundstage with the 2227? From what I've read it seems that the 8620's soundstage is better, probably because of the treble. From personal use the 8620 widens up the UM3X's deliberately small soundstage slightly, and it improves the instrument separation to godlike levels.    I think...

Quote: I think it depends on what sound signature you want. Do you want to retain/increase the ES5's warm sound signature, or would you like to brighten up the highs? For me, I decided to go with the more neutral, slightly v-shaped 8620 over the warmer 2227 for the UM3X to make it more...

Quote:   Don't leave us hanging! Tell the story! :D

You should look into the JH Audio JH5 as well.

The HD600 is pretty neutral so you should probably look into Etymotic for a more analytical sound.

Quote:  No hiss whatsoever. Completely (audibly) black. However there is some channel imbalance at low volumes.

I've got the c421 8620 and I love it too!

Hm... ER-4S?  Probably the most neutral universal IEM...