I just my ES5 phones in for an upgrade.  I'm getting the new MMCX jack and a MIC cable (microphone and buttons).  The price was reasonable given the higher prices of the new cables, and turnaround time is 5-7 days.  I've been quite pleased with the caliber and quality of their customer support...

I pulled the trigger on the ES5's about a month ago.  It hurt to write that check, but I have absolutely no regrets.  In the past I've had a variety of Shure IEMs, and some Etymotic ER-4Ps with a custom fit earpiece.  Then I went for the (first generation, dual driver) Livewires.  The Livewires...

I bought a pair of livewires in 2007 (amongst the first I think), and have used them VERY heavily since then.  I'm on the road for work a lot, and use them on plane trips.  They've been perfect up until last week, when I noticed that an armature broke loose inside on one side (you can hear it...

I got a Corda MOVE, and it'll be hard to go back to raw iPod output. Although, some combination of an attenuating cable and the improved "iPod Classic" headphone circuitry might be good enough. And, Joe, presuming there's an attenuating cable, I can't see any safety reason for an amp in the...

A simple rag is all I use to clean them. (OK, it's usually my shirt.) If I die of some bizarre ear rot, I'll let you know. My guess is that Oto Ease (which I bought three vials of on Amazon) is completely interchangeable with other (ahem) "personal lubricants." The most cost effective thing...

I've had my Livewires for a month now, and always use my Corda Move amp with them. Not only is the noise floor inaudible, but the sound quality is significantly improved. Kind of a dorky setup to haul out on airplanes, but the result is worth the hassle. If you don't want to carry an amp, then...

I'm the guy who was whining about background noise. NO, this is not the fault of the LiveWires. It's because they're so darned efficient; they are more sensitive to the noise floor from the iPod's amp. The solution was to buy a separate headphone amp and a cable that goes from the dock connector...

Actually, the 75 ohm resistor converts an etymotics er-4p into an er-4s (check here for details). The end result is something that's not quite as efficient, so you'll want a headphone amp in the loop. The product listing at head-fi says 750 ohms, which I hope (and suspect) is a typo.

I just tried that. It could be something about my ears, but my IEMs really get into my ears. I have to spend a bit getting them to the point where I can rotate them clockwise. It seems to have more to do with the top part of the phones. I stand by my statement. It's hard to take at least my...

I did a quick mini-review here. I think the phones are fantastic. There are some things that they aren't, though: They're not easy to take out. It takes a little while to put them in your ears, but you get better with time. Getting them out (of at least my ears) is harder than putting them...

I put one up on on Picasa. I really like the color choice I picked: red for right, blue for left and tan for the faceplate.

Just got my LiveWires yesterday, and posted a review on cnet here. One sentence summary: I love the fit, sound and feel of the phones. I'd have to add that customer support is among the best I've seen. LiveWires shopped around for an audiologist in San Diego, and responded to e-mails...

So I ditched the iPod, and went to my main components: Outlaw Audio 950 pre/pro --> Behringer DEQ2496 RTA --> Super T --> K-1000 phones. So, the first thing was to measure pink noise using a Behringer ECM8000 calibration mike. Picture here Then I ran the auto-eq function: resulting curve...

Agreed about the iPod; it was just a convenient source. Any difference caused by its quality as a source was completely dwarfed by the amp's issues. I did AB against my Etymotics 6i earphones. That's what led me to conclude that there was a huge equalization shift caused by the amp. This is...

Well, based on advice from this forum and elsewhere, I bought a Sonic Impact Super T Amp to use with my AKG K-1000 phones. Here's a picture of the setup, if you're interested. For testing purposes, I used an iPod. Bottom line: On the iPod's "flat" equalization it was unlistenable. Using...