Many thanks for taking the time to do this, and share it with the community. I was curious to try your curve for the M50s, but since I use foobar and Spotify, I wanted to find an eq solution that worked system wide (Spotify doesn't support vst's, and the third party eq's that I saw were pretty...

That's a very smart strategy. Good luck!

The component that will most change the quality of the sound is the headphones (providing it's sufficiently well powered). That is exactly where the majority of your money should be going, if you want the best possible sound for your money. Upgrading from a low-end DAC/AMP to a high end one in...

First of all, never say never (killer samples exist in every codec - regardless of bitrate, all have flaws), but they are very rare, and thus highly unlikely to be encountered by the general public (in addition, you often need trained ears to hear things like pre-echo, an artifact typically...

The Westone 4 will not benefit from amping. 

Brainwavz B2 is essentially 99% identical to the Fischer Audio DBA-02, the difference being in colour and company. 

At that price range, and matching your description perfectly, you want to take a look at the Etymotic HF5 (or HF2/HF3 - they are sonically identical, the latter two feature a mic and iphone controls).   It can be easily found for under £100, has the best isolation of pretty much any IEM out...

Interesting, I'm getting the E9/E7 pairing with the HE-5LEs, hope it will be able to drive them well as planar magnetics are notoriously hard to drive. Noticed that someone who reviewed the E9 said that his HE-5 was amply driven by the E9 at 10 o'clock, so hopefully there should be no problem.

Might be the wrong place to ask, and I realise not many will have had the opportunity to hear this combination, but has anyone tried to drive the Beyer T1's with the E9, and if so, how did it compare to mid-high end amps?

I realise this may be a rather 'naive' question, but has anyone tried the T1 with a low end amp, like the Fiio E9, and compared it to mid-higher end amps? I realise I'm provoking the 'they won't drive them at their best potential' response, and I realise not many will have tried such an...

I own both the UM3X and the W4, the isolation is exactly the same for the same tips.

No one on these forums will be able to help you. Like the second post says, go see a specialist doctor, immediately.

First of all, don't upgrade your source - put your money into the IEMs instead: the rule of thumb is that you put money into IEMs first, only then into source/amp. The difference you are going to see between a low end and a high end custom is going to be far, far greater than going from an...

1. Definitely not overkill, for most people well encoded mp3 is completely transparent at 192kbps, never mind 320 (killer samples are rare). 2. The difference will be large - it's very unlikely that you will not be satisfied. 3. They are on the warm side of neutral and definitely not bass...

The fact that you find little difference between LOD and HO on SE530s on an ipod classic, yet a lot of difference with UM3X is a little strange. The classic's internal amp is poor, you should see a difference if you are using decent quality IEMs (like the SE530's) and a decent amp (which you are...

Hvae you tested the amp though? Because from what you are saying, it's not the 'difference between the T3 and no T3' - its more the difference between LOD and no LOD. 

  Quote: Yep, but as far as I can tell there are no UK resellers - will hunt around though. Wrote an email to Westone, but got a pretty generic reply of "I have not been informed of any plans to create a tip with a larger diameter, but we are constantly researching new products and...

YMMV in the sense that some people like to use amps to colour their sound - if that 'improves' the sound for them, I can't argue with that. But most likely the OP hears the difference as a result of the poor source, not colouration. 

Anyone have any further info on wide diameter triple/biflanges? Specifically, does anyone know where to purchase them in the UK?   The wider nozzled olives really are superior to all of Westone's included tips - they completely get rid of the "hollow/tunnel/veil" sound. I think I too will...

My point is that you are seeing the difference because your Classic's HO is a poor source compared to LOD (which bypasses the inferior internal amp), and not because UM3X benefit from amping. In my experience, UM3X does not really change with amping if the source is good. Others who have good...

If you found the SE530 warm, and you have enough budget, I can recommend the Westone 4. It is more neutral than the UM3X (which is on the warm side) and the W3, which is skewed towards lows/highs. Don't go for the IE8's, they are much warmer than the SE530's.   It depends what works for you...

I own the UM3X too, but haven't noticed any significant improvement when it's amped.   What are you referencing to? Ipod Classic's HO? In that case, the improvement you see is likely to come from the lackluster internal amp on the Classic.    I compared on a Sony S639 via HO and via LOD...

Your ears need burn in. 

    This.   Very few people can consistently tell the difference between V0 LAME and FLAC in blind testing. Don't fool yourself, try the test.   

Quote: If you don't mind me asking, which IEMs did you/do you use? Because in your sig I only see full size cans which obviously do require amping, and the OP asked about IEMs, not cans.