I spent some time in two Apple Stores over the past few days. I tried a bunch of headphones and they were uniformly bad. These were not cheap headphones. They were Beats, B&W, and some other brands, costing up to $300. The Apple Earpods that came with my son's iPod sound better than any of them...

I love the X5's.  S4 is OK but a bit bass-heavy for me.  Tried the X10 and was very disappointed -- too bass-heavy and sounded unnatural to me.  If the X7i has a sound signature similar to the X5, that is very promising.

Quick update.  I got a set of MX880's.  Wanted to be able to compare them with the PK2.  The MX880 is very good. The fit is a bit odd but it's OK.  In terms of sound quality, the bass is there, in contrast to the MX581.  The MX880 is on par with, and arguably better than, the PK2.  At this point...

Thanks - I found the R and L but it's not easy for a person with ageing eyes.

Just got a set of Sennheiser MX 880 buds.  My initial impression of the sound quality is good -- a bit better than my Yuin PK2's, which I have always liked.   Question -- how do you tell the left and right on these?  I did not see an L or an R and there is an unbalanced shape, so clearly one...

Quote: It's amazing to me how two people can listen to the same headphones/earphones and reach entirely different conclusions.  I've had the PK2 and PK3.  The PK2 are my current workout favorites.  When I compared these two in A/B fashion switching back and forth, I found the differences...

For what it's worth, I bought my son the MX581's and compared them to my PK2's.  Having read good things about the Sennheisers, I hoped the sound would be close.  It's not close.  The PK2's sound much better -- fuller sounding, better bass response, and much better clarity.  The MX581's sounded...

Caution -- my opinion only ...   I've read this board quite a bit and tried about 10-12 different IEMs.  I think the RE0 is the single most overrated IEM I've read about here and heard.  I found them to be way too thin sounding.  The low end is just too big a part of the whole sound spectrum...

It better have a lot more bass than the SA6 at that price level.

S4 for $50 is reasonable.  I do think the bass is bloated but they're OK.

Klipsch X5 is currently $120 at Amazon.  That's a great deal.  They are much better than the S4.

I hope you're not thinking that a different cable would make them sound better.

The X5 is far superior to the S4.  I have listened to both.  The X5 are my favorites of many I've tried.  The S4 got overhyped here.  They are OK for the price but the balance is not good and the bass is bloated.  The X5 has very good balance and a good punch in the bass.  If you can get them...

I had the SCL4's and RE0's -- sold them both.  I am in the minority here in the land of RE0 mania, but I liked the SCL4 better.  Not quite as good in the clarity department, but still reasonably good, and much better bass than the RE0.  I think $99 is an excellent deal for them, provided you can...

I see that the Klipsch X5 is down to $140 from some reputable sellers.  Thought I'd put in a plug for these.  They are my favorites of all the IEMs I have tried (about ten).  For a relevant comparison, take the RE0, sacrifice a little bit of the clarity in the mids and highs (but only a little)...

Quote: Damn.

In my opinion, the biggest problem with the S4 is muddy bass.   I'm very interested in the DBA-02.  To me, the PFE, SA6 and RE0 all have insufficient bass.  It's there but it just doesn't have any impact to it.  The Klipsch X5, by comparison, has a pretty good bass response.  I don't...

They are $328 on Amazon right now.

I recommend staying away from the Super.fi 5 Pros.  They do have more bass than the RE0, but that is the RE0's big weakness.  I found the SF5 Pros to be very uncomfortable, and the sound signature is odd -- it was painful to listen to them at high volumes.  I am a big fan of the Klipsch X5...

Quote: Yes, it sure is.  Most people here have the headphone hobby, so it's somewhat understandable, but when you step back and think about it, $500 for a set of earphones?  That is a LOT.  They better be REALLY good for that price -- are they really a $350 upgrade from the Klipsch X5's I...

I have the X5's and they have a better fit (with the large over gels) than any other IEM I have tried -- I've tried about ten.

I had the Sennheiser CX300s as my first IEMs.  Just barely tolerable.  Also a model of their earbuds from a few years ago, MX500 maybe?  They sounded totally lifeless.  Both of these made me question why Sennheiser would even bother making such products -- it damages their reputation, I think...

Not normal, if properly driven.  If it's in both sides, it's probably an issue with your source, or you're overdriving them.  If it's one side only, it could be a defect.

Nothing sounds worse than IEMs that are not properly sealed.  That's one reason I am reluctant to recommend them to people over standard buds.  I just don't know if the average person who is not an audio nerd will have the patience and make the effort to get the proper seal.

There is absolutely no way they are going to sound any different after 50 hours or 500 hours.  You are buying into bunk.