[Revant]

Hi HeadFi's,
 
I used to own a pair of Ety's hf5 ( i think ) as my first pair of IEM's that really made me think their was something to buying better quality IEM's I really enjoyed the clarity and excellent sound that came from them.  I'm no technical audiophile so I don't really know the words here but was very satisfied with them.   Some one stole them at some point and I ended up replacing them with a pair of DUNU-1000's after a short while using them and was very surprised how "surgical (precise in a sorta bad way?)" the Hf5 sounded in comparison and enjoyed the stronger bass and how the music felt like it was being played a little less inside my head.   In the process of geeking out about them I lent them to a friend so he could see what i meant and at some point he clearly snapped the cord in half and return it to me in pieces...  He offered to replace them so it wasn't a super dick move and gave me what the cost.    Well I was figuring that every upgrade I've done so far has really sort of opened up my horizons as far as audio appreciation so I might as well bump up to the next tier.
 
So background I use my headphones mostly during the 3 hours I commute each day on the train (roughly an hour each way + walking) so noise isolation is a big factor for me and I have pretty big/deep ears and the only real complaint i had with the Dunu-1000's was it really felt like I have to put the whole IEM in my ear till metal was touching my ear to really seal out background noise.  I listen to a pretty wide selection of music but mainly Metal, EDM, and hip-hop so I think I'm looking for a more balanced IEM than one that will rattle my skull with each base hit and sound cracky on a high note.   I've been looking at some Shures or even ER4S but everything is so techincal in the reviews for the more high-mid range IEM's that i just sort of feel lost reading reviews about what's better for me personally.
 
 
Thanks for any help that you can offer! I'm willing to throw on 200$ on the 200$ my buddy gave me but am pretty flexible as I now view IEM's as pretty major quality of life purchase and would love any experance or advice from people that understand all these terms better than me.

 

[ZoNtO]

You won't find a better resource than this: http://www.head-fi.org/t/478568/multi-iem-review-343-iems-compared-xiaomi-piston-3-added-09-13-15-p-1082

 

[Revant]

I've looked through that list a lot but my problem is understanding a lot of the references.  Like for casual listening of music I probably don't want IEM's designed primarily to be monitors? 
 
Do something like the Custom Art One's which the reviewers describe have being "thicker, fuller" than say an ER4S suit just enjoying music on a train better?  Are the ER4S's more designed for musicians trying to get clarity on every note vs some one what to enjoying great sounding music with less worries about surgical reproduction?
 
What is sound stage how does it relate to my musical preferences? Is that the term for what i described as the DUNU's sound less in my head?
 
Terms like "bass extension" vs "bass presence" and "Warm" vs "Neutral" baffle me but seem like major differences in choice and preference...

 

[Revant]

bump, anyone?

 

[Badfish5446]

With your requirements I can't recommend any of my current stable of IEM's as my higher tier IEM's are either open/vented (in some way) and thus pretty bad at isolation.  At that price range I would limit your search to BA (balanced armature) IEM's as they are typically sealed.  The shure 435 and 535 fall in that category and have a good reputation.  As does the Audio-Technica ATH-IM03/04 (I've been eyeing the IM03's for some time).  I've fairly recently picked up the IE800's and those have dominated all of my IEM listening, they are vented so they may not be ideal for "out and about", they are also quite a bit higher than your stated price range.
 
This page may help with understanding the terminology used: http://www.head-fi.org/a/describing-sound-a-glossary

 

[Revant]

Thanks for the help Badfish! I never even thought about the open/vented construction but that's great as Isolation is really important to me.  I'm now geeking out between the Shure -535's and the ATH IM04.   

Do you have any comparison between the Hybrid type DN-1000's I've been using and a multi BA setup like the shure/ath's?
 
Also any recommendations for listening to higher end IEM's off of something like Samsung S6?

 

[Revant]

Anyone have any specific advice for listening through a Samsung S6? What kind of IEM's respond well to that environment? Do you recommend a amp or something for real quality listening off a phone? 

 

[jodgey4]

Do you have any comparison between the Hybrid type DN-1000's I've been using and a multi BA setup like the shure/ath's?
 
Also any recommendations for listening to higher end IEM's off of something like Samsung S6?

Hybrids usually keep the dynamic driver for the bass - it makes more of a "punch". BA is more like a planar headphone - tight and deep bass. Depending on the headphone, impedances can vary pretty wildly on BA drivers, whereas dynamics are flatter. This means that multi-BA IEMs are more picky on amp output impedance and damping.
 
The Samsungs usually have good audio for a phone (my Note 4 is powerful and musical, a bit of smoothness), and typically an output impedance of less than 3ohms it seems. You could always add a DAC/amp later.