Hi I'm new here, and probably considered a neophyte at Head-Fi -
however I have long favored listening on headphones - that is back to the days when they were those big clunky things that covered ones ears.
Eventually I purchased a pair of the now legendary Sony MDR-V6 - after reading Consumer Reports sometime around the mid '80s, just after they first came out. They may be a bit too bright for my current tastes, but still sound really good, with good but not intrusive extended bass - and those had been my benchmark since.
I flirted with various earbuds because I like the compact carrying size and by taking advantage of the ear cavity - those tiny speakers can manage to produce such good bass, mids and highs weren't much of a problem - but obviously there were plenty that were pretty brittle and harsh, especially at the low price end.
However I found the Philips HE591 which became the SHE5910 - and I really liked them - seemed for the low price pretty well balanced with good bass extension - I thought I may have preferred them over my Sony MDR-V6.
Then I found Head-Fi.org and am extremely grateful for ljokerl Multi-IEM Review.
So I tried those highly recommended bottom priced IEMs -
first the Brainwavz Beta - they were everything the review said they were and I could tell they were better than the Philips SHE5910 that I had been using (but not by much for my ears).
Just when I was getting used to the Brainwavz Beta - everyone started talking about the Monoprice 8320 - what at $7-8? WoW! I just had to try those - in fact bought two pairs just because it worked out cheaper that way (at just over $8 each shipped) - and yes, another incremental improvement - although they were even more sensitive to microphonics - but wearing over-ear helped mitigate that - they weren't bad - but less comfortable. But hey! great sound quality for $8?
Hardly catching my breath, when I saw people talking about these Philips SHE3580 - and found Joe Bloggs' thread Philips SHE3580 IEM review--how can something sound so good for $10???
So I had to try a pair, found some for $6 shipped....
Boy! am I impressed (no EQ) - the bass extension/sub-bass is unbelievable at almost any price, much less for a $6 pair of IEMs.
The Philips SHE3580 actually revealed that the test track I had been using to compare headphones did not have much sub-bass! "The Lazarus Heart" by Sting from "Nothing Like the Sun" CD.
I found fairly quickly a great live recording downloadable (free & legal) from Archive.org that had plenty of bass extension - Robert Walter's 20th Congress Live at The Boom Boom Room on 2007-10-11 - tracks are available in Flac as well as vbr2 mp3. If you don't want to wade through all the tracks try this short one: Almendra (4:53) - 30.9 MB (Flac) or 7.2 MB (vbr2 mp3) - the bass by Chris Stillwell along with Eric Kalb's bass drum are great, with easy extension into sub-bass.
I was so impressed I bought another 2 pairs just for back-up -
yeah, I know.... big spender!
Thank you to Joe Bloggs for his thread - and also to Dsnuts Discovery Thread - for making me aware of these Philips SHE3580
--
Vincent
however I have long favored listening on headphones - that is back to the days when they were those big clunky things that covered ones ears.
Eventually I purchased a pair of the now legendary Sony MDR-V6 - after reading Consumer Reports sometime around the mid '80s, just after they first came out. They may be a bit too bright for my current tastes, but still sound really good, with good but not intrusive extended bass - and those had been my benchmark since.
I flirted with various earbuds because I like the compact carrying size and by taking advantage of the ear cavity - those tiny speakers can manage to produce such good bass, mids and highs weren't much of a problem - but obviously there were plenty that were pretty brittle and harsh, especially at the low price end.
However I found the Philips HE591 which became the SHE5910 - and I really liked them - seemed for the low price pretty well balanced with good bass extension - I thought I may have preferred them over my Sony MDR-V6.
Then I found Head-Fi.org and am extremely grateful for ljokerl Multi-IEM Review.
So I tried those highly recommended bottom priced IEMs -
first the Brainwavz Beta - they were everything the review said they were and I could tell they were better than the Philips SHE5910 that I had been using (but not by much for my ears).
Just when I was getting used to the Brainwavz Beta - everyone started talking about the Monoprice 8320 - what at $7-8? WoW! I just had to try those - in fact bought two pairs just because it worked out cheaper that way (at just over $8 each shipped) - and yes, another incremental improvement - although they were even more sensitive to microphonics - but wearing over-ear helped mitigate that - they weren't bad - but less comfortable. But hey! great sound quality for $8?
Hardly catching my breath, when I saw people talking about these Philips SHE3580 - and found Joe Bloggs' thread Philips SHE3580 IEM review--how can something sound so good for $10???
So I had to try a pair, found some for $6 shipped....
Boy! am I impressed (no EQ) - the bass extension/sub-bass is unbelievable at almost any price, much less for a $6 pair of IEMs.
The Philips SHE3580 actually revealed that the test track I had been using to compare headphones did not have much sub-bass! "The Lazarus Heart" by Sting from "Nothing Like the Sun" CD.
I found fairly quickly a great live recording downloadable (free & legal) from Archive.org that had plenty of bass extension - Robert Walter's 20th Congress Live at The Boom Boom Room on 2007-10-11 - tracks are available in Flac as well as vbr2 mp3. If you don't want to wade through all the tracks try this short one: Almendra (4:53) - 30.9 MB (Flac) or 7.2 MB (vbr2 mp3) - the bass by Chris Stillwell along with Eric Kalb's bass drum are great, with easy extension into sub-bass.
I was so impressed I bought another 2 pairs just for back-up -
yeah, I know.... big spender!
Thank you to Joe Bloggs for his thread - and also to Dsnuts Discovery Thread - for making me aware of these Philips SHE3580
--
Vincent
