For what it's worth, I own a pair of Ultimate Ears TripleFi IEMs and ATH M50 cans. Many seem to prefer the 530s to the TripleFi, but they are both top of the line 3-driver IEMs, so I believe my comparison will be fairly accurate.  I can say with confidence that even my ATH M50s, costing only...

 Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd (1992 remaster) and Aja by Steely Dan.   I've found the 2003 30th anniversary edition of Dark Side to be aimed at modern sub-par listening environments. They boosted the bass and vocals more significantly than any other changes.   I sometimes listen...

Tf10s. No question. Easier to drive, more neutral, and IMO, simply better sound. Since you do OWN them both, though, definately pick whichever best suits your needs. You can be the ultimate judge!

If you are looking for truly great sounding headphones, I would reccomend the Ultimate Ears TripleFi 10s. They are probably the most reasonably priced, portable, and best sounding headphones -without an amp- that you can get. They are only 32 ohms, which is the optimum level for iPhones. In...

    Quote:   Ok so, unamped and without burn in, the bass on the m50s is poor. But trust me, it improves drastically after about 50 hours of burn in. I stopped telling a difference in sound after 150-200 hours. If you want powerful bass, you will need to amp the headphones.  I use...

Ok so, unamped and without burn in, the bass on the m50s is poor. But trust me, it improves drastically after about 50 hours of burn in. I stopped telling a difference in sound after 150-200 hours. If you want powerful bass, you will need to amp the headphones.  I use them with my iphone 3gs...

<p> <p>If he listens to rock and rap, and thus needs half decent bass, the ATH m50s are the way to go. they are by no means "bass heavy" -but its good, and ever so slightly bumped. In fact, unamped the headphones sound pretty neutral. Anyway, they will perform well unamped and even better...