Doku
Head-Fier
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2010
- Posts
- 50
- Likes
- 10
Hey guys, I appreciate you reading, but I totally get it if you skip this novel.
I've been dealing without having any good earbuds for like 5 years and saving up my cash for some Ultimate Ears. I live in Irvine, CA and there's a few dealers here so I can get good service from them without mailing things. But, since this is basically my Christmas and Birthday present to myself wrapped up after years of waiting, I decided to get a checkpoint on people's opinions on things since I decided to get them a while ago.
So, I really need a pair of headphones that are not over the ear. Right now I use Sennheiser Momentum 2 over aptX while mobile and plugged into my audio-gd NFB-11 while at home. The NFB-11 also drives my Focal A80 studio monitors. Mobile source is a Sony Xperia XZ1 with aptX, aptXHD, and LDAC for wireless and meh DAC on the headphone jack. Still looking for a top tier in line USB-C DAC that competes with the iSine 20's iPhone only DAC thingie.
I listen to everything except country. I find Sony mainstream headphones to be too bright, whiney and harsh, but their studio quality headphones are great. The momentum 2s that I have from Sennheiser are my favorite right now, however, I think the sound is somewhat spoiled by the noise canceling that cannot be turned off while using wireless. At work I have a pair of ATH-m50x that I use purely cause I paid money for them. I much prefer the Sennheiser to the ATH and I really don't get the hype on these headphones. They are flat and boring, but at least mostly accurate.
The reason it's taken so long is the inside of my ears are very sensitive and get very itchy. There's a bunch of off the shelf solutions like the iSine 10 / 20 that review pretty well, but I'm really worried about anything rubber or silicone in my ears causing horrible itching. It's fine if it's the crappy $2 buds that came with my phone, but if I'm paying hundreds, I should be able to wear them for hours without fatigue. In any case, this is why I usually just deal with sweaty ears and take the Sennheiser Momentum 2s. The best walking headphones for me so far are the Koss KSC-35s "on ear clip" style that doesn't go in the ear or, yes, the Apple ear pods which are all plastic.
So yeah, 3 years ago or so I decided I was going to get form molded plastic IEMs that fit my ears perfectly and don't use rubber or silicone pressure to stay in. But, maybe when you pay $550 for the iSine 20, they don't itch? Hell, I don't know. If the SE846 was just pure plastic tips instead of rubber dome things I probably would have bought them already.
If none of this works out, I might just deal with sweaty ears and get the Sony 1000XM2 with LDAC since I have an Xperia XZ1 phone. At least then the DAC is moved into the headphones and I can still get 24bit 96khz.
tl;dr
Anyway, before I schedule the doctors apt to get my ear mold for the UE 18+, does the SE846, iSine20, etc. match up on sound? Do you think my ear canal would itch even with the UE18s? Or should I just stick with cans and get the Sony 1000Xm2 and deal with sweaty ears?
I've been dealing without having any good earbuds for like 5 years and saving up my cash for some Ultimate Ears. I live in Irvine, CA and there's a few dealers here so I can get good service from them without mailing things. But, since this is basically my Christmas and Birthday present to myself wrapped up after years of waiting, I decided to get a checkpoint on people's opinions on things since I decided to get them a while ago.
So, I really need a pair of headphones that are not over the ear. Right now I use Sennheiser Momentum 2 over aptX while mobile and plugged into my audio-gd NFB-11 while at home. The NFB-11 also drives my Focal A80 studio monitors. Mobile source is a Sony Xperia XZ1 with aptX, aptXHD, and LDAC for wireless and meh DAC on the headphone jack. Still looking for a top tier in line USB-C DAC that competes with the iSine 20's iPhone only DAC thingie.
I listen to everything except country. I find Sony mainstream headphones to be too bright, whiney and harsh, but their studio quality headphones are great. The momentum 2s that I have from Sennheiser are my favorite right now, however, I think the sound is somewhat spoiled by the noise canceling that cannot be turned off while using wireless. At work I have a pair of ATH-m50x that I use purely cause I paid money for them. I much prefer the Sennheiser to the ATH and I really don't get the hype on these headphones. They are flat and boring, but at least mostly accurate.
The reason it's taken so long is the inside of my ears are very sensitive and get very itchy. There's a bunch of off the shelf solutions like the iSine 10 / 20 that review pretty well, but I'm really worried about anything rubber or silicone in my ears causing horrible itching. It's fine if it's the crappy $2 buds that came with my phone, but if I'm paying hundreds, I should be able to wear them for hours without fatigue. In any case, this is why I usually just deal with sweaty ears and take the Sennheiser Momentum 2s. The best walking headphones for me so far are the Koss KSC-35s "on ear clip" style that doesn't go in the ear or, yes, the Apple ear pods which are all plastic.
So yeah, 3 years ago or so I decided I was going to get form molded plastic IEMs that fit my ears perfectly and don't use rubber or silicone pressure to stay in. But, maybe when you pay $550 for the iSine 20, they don't itch? Hell, I don't know. If the SE846 was just pure plastic tips instead of rubber dome things I probably would have bought them already.
If none of this works out, I might just deal with sweaty ears and get the Sony 1000XM2 with LDAC since I have an Xperia XZ1 phone. At least then the DAC is moved into the headphones and I can still get 24bit 96khz.
tl;dr
Anyway, before I schedule the doctors apt to get my ear mold for the UE 18+, does the SE846, iSine20, etc. match up on sound? Do you think my ear canal would itch even with the UE18s? Or should I just stick with cans and get the Sony 1000Xm2 and deal with sweaty ears?
