Am I cheap, demanding, or inexperienced?
Sep 10, 2009 at 9:30 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 27

Hentai11

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Every IEM I own seems to do something well at the expense of doing something badly. Not unremarkably--badly. Either the low bass is piss-poor (Ety 6/6i, UE super fi 3, RE2, Custom 2), or the high treble is piss-poor (Altec 326, Denon C551, Senn CX500)

What will I have to spend to get something that's at least mediocre at everything? I would rather stay under $250. Otherwise I can scour the classifieds for a used high-end rig.
 
Sep 10, 2009 at 9:53 PM Post #2 of 27
your in the same boat im in, i also had the Er6i's puny crappy bass, and then a bunch of other crap earphones i spent 50 or so on. I did buy some Ultimate Ears Super fi 5 pros that i was happy with sonic wise but the fit on those UE's suck, id always lose seal. So i am going to take the custom plunge and get the JH5 pros, def more than i want to spend, but im sick of universals.

So hopefully the 400 bucks i spend ends my search.
 
Sep 10, 2009 at 9:55 PM Post #3 of 27
w/ very few exceptions, at a lower price point, you're just going to have to determine what part of the sound spectrum you like best, and make your purchase in line w/ that. Unless venturing into the higher-end pieces, there's always something I find lacking in the sq. That's just the way it is.

Best bang for your buck pieces would probably be PFE, RE0, KSC75, etc...

and yes, you probably are a bit cheap, inexperienced, etc... what's so wrong with that? The economy sucks these days
smily_headphones1.gif
 
Sep 10, 2009 at 10:00 PM Post #4 of 27
The Altec Lansing Backbeat Pro has impressed me throughout the whole entire spectrum...
 
Sep 10, 2009 at 11:15 PM Post #5 of 27
im in the same problem. the RE0 just dont have the bass i need, but every other IEM i looked at seems to have problems somewhere in the spectrum. i suppose its a problem with using such tiny drivers in such tiny housings. cant be easy to get a good balance without making everything sounding poor.
good highs need reduced bass to avoid distortion, good bass will need the highs reducing to avoid the same problem. i suppose deep bass needs bigger enclosures too, which dont sound too easy for tiny lil IEMs.
so i suppose the only way round it is to use more than 1 driver, but thats gonna push the cost up.
 
Sep 10, 2009 at 11:19 PM Post #6 of 27
Quote:

Originally Posted by roosta /img/forum/go_quote.gif
im in the same problem. the RE0 just dont have the bass i need, but every other IEM i looked at seems to have problems somewhere in the spectrum. i suppose its a problem with using such tiny drivers in such tiny housings. cant be easy to get a good balance without making everything sounding poor.
good highs need reduced bass to avoid distortion, good bass will need the highs reducing to avoid the same problem. i suppose deep bass needs bigger enclosures too, which dont sound too easy for tiny lil IEMs.
so i suppose the only way round it is to use more than 1 driver, but thats gonna push the cost up.



There are several very good single driver IEM's - the IE8, the PFE, the Klipsch X10's, the JVC FX500 are the ones I can think of at the moment.
 
Sep 10, 2009 at 11:31 PM Post #7 of 27
I recommend a used triple fi. I think you will find it does most parts of the spectrum well-it's a triple driver so it has different drivers for different areas. Comfort may be an issue, but you can always sell it for what you paid for if you buy used. And I think it probably sounds closest to what you would like. It can be had for $200 used.

Also your name is...awesome, hehe.
 
Sep 11, 2009 at 11:43 PM Post #9 of 27
Since you've tried the UE SF3, you basically know how the fit is for the SF5pro and TF10. I suggest finding a great deal on these forums for the SF5pro and give it a test. If it doesn't satisfy, you can likely sell it on Ebay for more than what you paid. Then move up to the TF10, again from this classified forum.

If you found the SF3 uncomfortable (as many people have) then you'll have to move to another brand. There are plenty of good options for under $250, and the good part is that you can usually flip them for the same price if you don't like the sound.
 
Sep 12, 2009 at 12:24 AM Post #11 of 27
TF10 does everything but midrange REALLY well for an IEM. Even the midrange aint so bad, but its not the w3 or the se530.
 
Sep 12, 2009 at 12:39 AM Post #12 of 27
The OP should try either the Denon C710 ($90) or the Klipsch S4 (79). Let them burn in for 2-3 days. No need for top tier IEMs, since either of those phones will fit the bill. The Klipsch is more balanced, but both deliver. Spend the rest of your cash on something else.
 
Sep 12, 2009 at 1:19 AM Post #13 of 27
I will also recomand C710, it bass goes really low and has extended highs with great midrange clarity. These are surprisingly not expensive but shows great details through out the whole frequency spectrum. FX500 are also very detailed with rich bass which goes really low and reverb. So it's good to try these dynamic IEMs first instead of buying very high end pricey triple drivers BA IEMs.
 
Sep 12, 2009 at 3:58 AM Post #14 of 27
Quote:

Originally Posted by ZARIM /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I will also recomand C710, it bass goes really low and has extended highs with great midrange clarity. These are surprisingly not expensive but shows great details through out the whole frequency spectrum. FX500 are also very detailed with rich bass which goes really low and reverb. So it's good to try these dynamic IEMs first instead of buying very high end pricey triple drivers BA IEMs.


Seems like the ops looking for something akin to a full-size headphone experience with these phones, though. And for $200, the triple fi is a steal closer to this than something cheaper. So I stand by my recommendation op. I think you'd be very impressed with triple fi (or um3x if you want a darker sound.)
 

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