Wow thank you very much for the suggestions so far. Are there any particularly good portable amps to pair with the tzar 350/90 or other heir audio products. Does anyone know how the heir audio headphones would compare with akg 3003's?

Apologies In advance for committing what I'm sure is a cardinal sin and posting incorrectly but after a lot of dithering I gave up trying to decide which forum to post in.   I currently Listen to a Krell KAV 300i with a Micromega Premium 18 and a set of Sonus Faber Concertos with Nordost Red...

I wonder if I need to talk to whoever I buy from and see if they'll accept returns should it prove too big for my lugs

it was the ie8's and my reasons for deciding against it were precisely those you mention though I've inferred its audio qualities from reviews and comments rather than from 1st hand experience. Relaxing warm and bass dominant is not necessarily the same as bright with warm tinges forward and...

Still not entirely sure but as no answers seem definitive I think I might have to bite the bullet and plonk some cash out and gamble. Right now the front runners seem to be the UE10's or the Grado GR8's (I read a couple of reviews saying they were quite forward and fun to listen to even if they...

Thanks to those who took the time to respond. The input was much appreciated.

I'm well aware that you wont get exactly the same sound through an IEM as you would through a full size can. It would be nice to get better than the e3c's which as I say sound a bit dead

Does the Grado GR8 sound anything like the full Grado cans?

Don't just stick with my list of IEM's - if you know of others by all means add them to the fray.

Yep I do like brightness. To my ears the Grado's get a nice mix of a bright forward psuhy sound but they temper it with a bit of warmth and sweetness. I'd really like that combination if I can get it. My experience has been that its a very pleasant combination to listen to. thats why I used the...

Well there's a good point. The Grado's are bright but manage to combine it with a certain warmth. I'd take bright over sweetness and warmth but would like a bit of each ideally. Trying to describe a sound you like is really hard.

Oooh that sounds good. On the subject of the RS1's I struggle to think one could better the sound by much. One might get a different sound but to really improve I suspect you'd have to spend thousands.

Nooo the Shure E3c's dont begin to grovel at the feet of the Grado's. I bought my e3c's long before I bought the Grado's. That is the reason for my dissatisfaction with the E3c's. I never listened to headphones before the e3c's - they were my intro to better headphones. The RS1's I got to hear...

Should have said I'm not at all sure I want theWestones at all. They're a lot of money and the reviews I've read seem not to be too conclusive either way about whether they're better than the Shure's/Klipsch/ortofon/Ety's/UE and so forth. I'm sure they're good but are they better than any of the...

Oh dear I've obviously expressed myself really badly - I do apologise. I do like the Grado RS1's. I love them. Its the Shure E3's I'm not as convinced of. I like the forward presentation of the Grado's. I like their clarity and the detail I hear. hence the reason I said I like the fact that the...

Yeah I can though how much depends on the music and the recording quality also. It could be of course that the differences I' hearign are more tonal than quality. I also hear some artefacts from time to time. I like the grado's but I'm not sure if I know what the Grado sounds means. They're...

Hi Folks, I've done the review reading. The post searchign and so forth and though I get all sorts of ideas I'm no closer to being able to choose IEM's. I currently spend most of my listening time listening to a set of Grado RS1i's on an ASUS STX Soundcard. My music has been ripped to...