[laurencewayne]

Hi Miguel- since I own and regularly use all the items mentioned -AKG 3003i, UERM, and Comply, thought I'd offer a few suggestions. First, don't give up on fitting the 3003 in your ears. I have small ears as well, and I found by angling the monitors up and slightly lodging against the inside of the ear I was able to get a great fit along with the amazing sound. The complys will change the sound and might be the answer as previously suggested. I went ultimate comfort...you will be going from "bud" to IEM. And lastly, the post regarding UERM is spot on. What a great sound signature for clarity. And Ultimate Ears customer service is legendary. If you call customer service ask for a lady named Jazmin Sandoval- best customer assistance I'be ever had. Tell her the Judge sent you.

 

[MrGuzmanWhite]

Hi Miguel- since I own and regularly use all the items mentioned -AKG 3003i, UERM, and Comply, thought I'd offer a few suggestions. First, don't give up on fitting the 3003 in your ears. I have small ears as well, and I found by angling the monitors up and slightly lodging against the inside of the ear I was able to get a great fit along with the amazing sound. The complys will change the sound and might be the answer as previously suggested. I went ultimate comfort...you will be going from "bud" to IEM. And lastly, the post regarding UERM is spot on. What a great sound signature for clarity. And Ultimate Ears customer service is legendary. If you call customer service ask for a lady named Jazmin Sandoval- best customer assistance I'be ever had. Tell her the Judge sent you.

Thank you very much! One quick question if I may. For the K3003i, do you use comply tips?
 
I am not sure I fully understand the insertion method you describe with "angling the monitors up and slightly lodging against the inside of the ear". Is that something to get deeper inside the ear or still is for a shallow fit? Do you find better positioning using around the ear, and straight down. Anyway, I am still experimenting, and I ordered some comply tips, I hope I find a way to make it fit, albeit you are tempting me with the UERM, maybe I should just stop boethering with universals, and go custom.
 
How do you compare the UERM vs the K3003i, given that are similar in price do you recommend me to just switch to the UERM?
 
Thank you again.

 

[laurencewayne]

I have never tried comply tips with my K 3003i. Let's see if I can do a little better with the fitting description. I angle the monitor up, without pushing it "more deeply" just more snug-flush against the ear opening, and so that the wire is hanging straight down resting in the crevice above the ear lob. Somewhat like you mentioned in your post. And here was something that made it seal better: slightly wetting the silicone before placing in my ear.
The UERM is spectacular, but I have kept both rather than give up one or the other. The UERM are very durable, i.e. for exercise etc., and I also use them with a balanced cables that I can switch out. The k3003i is more portable for out and about (they'll fit much better in a pocket-flater) and so I've kept both.
And finally, I'd be remiss if not saying, "you're welcome" and hope I've been somewhat helpful to someone as courteous as you are with your posts.

 

[Dobrescu George]

this might be the worst place for me to ask this, but, is there any universal iem that beats k3003?

 

[MrGuzmanWhite]

   
And finally, I'd be remiss if not saying, "you're welcome" and hope I've been somewhat helpful to someone as courteous as you are with your posts.

It is very, really useful feedback and I sincerely appreciate the effort you do to provide advise. It is very kind of you. I wish you the best for the coming year and I hope we have the chance to keep enjoying better headphones in 2015 ... it seems that to find the perfect headphone is always a never ending search ... never completely satisfied but always enjoying the journey!
 
Thank you.

 

[up late]

Hello everyone. I just bought a K3003i and yesterday was my first day trying and I like to share few things to see if you can help me.

I think the IEM is beautiful, very well designed, but unfortunately the fit for my ears is terrible. I can't get a seal with any of the tips provided because I have an small ear canal. I have tried some triple flange tips from other manufacturers that fit the K3003i, but as I don't have small size still hurts a lot. After a couple of hours I had a tremendous headache.

Any advise on tips that fit the K3003 and small ear canals while maintaining good SQ?

On top, one thing I noticed of the k3003i, is that to really get the dynamics of the sound and the punchy bass, you need to flow some juice. At low volume is not that engaging, this results again in a very tiring experience. I have tried the reference filter and it is good albeit I find that some vocals a bit strange, like there is a mismatch between the frequencies, maybe end a bit V-shaped sound. On the contrary the treble filter create an extremely good sound, with fantastic vocals and resolution, really outstanding clarity. Unfortunately the treble filter loses a bit of the bass presence resulting in a sound that is good for acoustic, classical etc but not as great for other types of music. It is a pity there is no filter between the reference and the treble boost, that would be perfect.

I am startngt yo think that for my ears the only way to have comfort is to go custom. If any of you can recommend a custom IEM that sounds similar to the K3003 (resolving, clear, good dynamics, good soundstage, with excellent treble but not too aggressive) please advise as I may just need to take that route. I think universals are just hard for small ear canals.

Please advise on tips for small ear canals and also please advise on how long I need to :"break-in" the K3003i to get to its "real" sound.

Thanks indeed.

the k3003 doesn't have a v shaped sound signature. it's balanced across the fr. what you're hearing must be fit related.

Source: Rin's K3003 analysis.

Bottom line: don't try to shove them deep into your ears, the K3003 have been designed for a shallow seal. Also, their isolation isn't the best, so you may not immediately notice when you've got a seal.

Imo these are some of the most engaging low volume IEMs on the market, but of course you'll need a good and painless fit to enjoy them.

this

this might be the worst place for me to ask this, but, is there any universal iem that beats k3003?

not that i've heard

 

[tumburu]

It depends. On page 131 jet2359 considered K10 to have the edge over the 3003s.

 

[jelt2359]

  this might be the worst place for me to ask this, but, is there any universal iem that beats k3003?

I thought the W60, IE800 and AKG K3003 were all in the same ballpark. The Shure 846 was just slightly better. The K10U- though not technically a mass-produced universal, but still great in ergonomics (way better than the JHRoxy Universal, for example, which I don't consider to be a universal)- was the best of the lot. You can read more in my reviews- check my signature.

 

[up late]

It depends. On page 131 jet2359 considered K10 to have the edge over the 3003s.

of course it depends

 

[M-13]

I really can't wait to get my greedy hands on the K10U. It's too bad they're back-ordered

 
I've said this before on this thread but for me the K3003 is clearly above the SE846 is all technicalities. It's more neutral, more resolving of details, better clarity/transparency, better extension, more refined in everyway. The soundstaging and imgaging blows the SE846 out of the water too but I guess that's the SE846's weakness. It's even more comfortable which is just an added bonus I guess. For me out of my current three the SE846 lags behind the IE800 and the K3003 is a level or two above both of them. Now bring on the K10!

 

 

[james444]

^ It's all a matter of different tastes and sound signatures.
 
I'm not a fan of the Shure sound either and haven't even considered the SE846. The K10 is also said to be on the dark-ish side, so thankfully easy to resist for me.

 

[M-13]

  ^ It's all a matter of different tastes and sound signatures.
 
I'm not a fan of the Shure sound either and haven't even considered the SE846. The K10 is also said to be on the dark-ish side, so thankfully easy to resist for me.

I would say it's preference if it's just a matter of sound signatures, like dark vs. neutral or whatever. But in terms of just pure detail retrieval/transparency and extension that's just technicalities of a superior IEM. One may not like the neutral signature but it's techincally superior.
 
Yeah I'm a little concerned about the K10U being dark and overly smooth up top. I do prefer neutral signatures like the K3003. I guess there is the JH Angie and Layla, but those gals aren't out yet and they're PHAT to say the least

 

[james444]

  I would say it's preference if it's just a matter of sound signatures, like dark vs. neutral or whatever. But in terms of just pure detail retrieval/transparency and extension that's just technicalities of a superior IEM.

Imo neutral is a moving target and detail retrieval/transparency is a matter of sound signature.

 

[jelt2359]

^ It's all a matter of different tastes and sound signatures.

I'm not a fan of the Shure sound either and haven't even considered the SE846. The K10 is also said to be on the dark-ish side, so thankfully easy to resist for me.

Well put. While I rank the IE800, AKG K3003 and W60 in the same ballpark, for example, they all sound very different.

That being said, I try not to place too much weight on sound signatures. For example, I also rank the JHRoxy in the same vicinity as these guys, but that's a sound signature I would never personally appreciate. The jvc 850 stock is another similar case. Much too warm for me, but I see the potential.

As for the K10, it is definitely on the warm/ dark side. I don't normally like such signatures, but this was done very well.

 

[M-13]

Imo neutral is a moving target and detail retrieval/transparency is a matter of sound signature.

I see.
 
Let me clarify what I'm thinking:
 
When I think of neutral I only think of the technical definition, which is a flat frequency response from top to bottom. FLAT without dips or peaks. This is easy to accomplish with speakers and easy to measure. Something a mastering engineer will reference while mixing in a studio using studio monitors. This has been nearly impossible for headphone manufacterers given the close distance of the ears and different wave lengths at different frequencies. You have to play by ear and experience to know what is neutral and what is not
 
But yeah, everyone on head-fi has their own personal made up definition of neutral which is confusing since there is actually a technical definition for it.
 
I think transparency and detail retrieval is a matter of driver speed. Thus companies try to decrease the mass of the driver and increase the magnetic flux so that the drivers refresh faster. Sennheiser put a hole in the middle of their driver in order to increase the speed (which was already done by speaker manufacterers). Beyer has their Tesla, and planars use heavy magnets on both sides, etc, etc.
 
I think driver rigidity is where clarity comes in, thus companies coating surfaces of diaphrams with titanium or using different structures etc, like dual structure or seven layer diaphrams etc, etc. The more the diaphram can stay in shape while moving quickly the better clarity you get.
 
People will pay more for more driver speed (transparency/detail retrieval). This make sense because the faster the driver refresh the more informaiton it can retrieve and thus using huge quality files like DSD actually has a point
 
To the point the K3003 has substantially more driver speed than the SE846, it retrieves more information at all frequencies, even the bass which is surprising given that it's going up against armatuers.
 
Anyway this is my attempt to clarify my view