[Bilavideo]

Make your own. You can buy a pair of CI-22955s and a pair of TWFKs for $158 plus shipping. Cable it for less than $30. Since the TWFK is a dual woofer/tweeter with a single sound outlet, the four sound outlets will take less than $6 worth of filters.

 

[mvw2]

It's a big challenge to find a product that does everything you want. You will in almost all cases find something that isn't quite right. In some cases you can accept the limitation and just enjoy the headphone as is. In some cases, you simply are unwilling to settle. In some of these cases, the solution may simply be processing, i.e. EQing, to turn a marginally livable product into something you can really enjoy. Sometimes people are unwilling to do so and remain forced to buy headphones that are as close to ideal as possible from the start, and this can be tough.

Don't think you have to spend a ton of money to get a decent product, but you really do need to buy the right product. Higher dollar products can get you there easier.

 

[Opentoe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hentai11 /img/forum/go_quote.gif 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.

I happen to be in this boat with everything! My media player, my NAS system, everything that plugs in or takes batteries is not exactly what I wanted because there was never something perfect with all just the right features.

 

[Opentoe]

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.

My Westone 3's have very nice bass I think. They al around sound great for every day music. Classical/Jazz, look at the less base model UM3X.

 

[A_Dying_Wren]

Often times you don't want to have everything so its also not that you're inexperienced. Living in Singapore with a vibrant audio community, I got to try out lots of earphones and bought some second hand and sold for not much less if at all. There's no earphone this side of the JH13s that will do everything. Heck, I'm sure there are people with JH13s who wish for more mid/treble/bass/etc.

It's just identifying what you want. Buy some earphones second hand and sell them off again if they don't agree with you. That way, you can also aim for top tiers.

 

[Hentai11]

Thanks, everyone. You really are a big help, all of you.

@chicagojammer: The fit on my UE SF3s suck too, which is too bad, because otherwise they are some of my better sounding phones. I'm such a sucker for sound quality, though, that I just might upgrade to the TF10, and suffer.

@jleewach:

Quote:

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.

This could be the smartest damn thing I've heard all year. Gold star for you.

@tsarn: I'll really look at the C710s. I had good times with my C551 until I destroyed them. I hope the highs improve as you say.

@Antony: Sorry, gotta raise the noob flag on that one; I have no idea what a full-size headphone experience is. Should I?

@mwv2: When I find an affordable portable device I can EQ, I will have everything. (Does anybody know whether the Rockbox parametric EQ is worth anything? That may drive my choice of device.)

 

[qusp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by A_Dying_Wren /img/forum/go_quote.gif Often times you don't want to have everything so its also not that you're inexperienced. Living in Singapore with a vibrant audio community, I got to try out lots of earphones and bought some second hand and sold for not much less if at all. There's no earphone this side of the JH13s that will do everything. Heck, I'm sure there are people with JH13s who wish for more mid/treble/bass/etc. It's just identifying what you want. Buy some earphones second hand and sell them off again if they don't agree with you. That way, you can also aim for top tiers.

hmmmm let me seee.........

....nope

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hentai11 /img/forum/go_quote.gif @Antony: Sorry, gotta raise the noob flag on that one; I have no idea what a full-size headphone experience is. Should I?

full sized as in not small portable, so in general; larger, outside your head soundstage, more tactile and slamming bass etc etc

Quote:

@mwv2: When I find an affordable portable device I can EQ, I will have everything. (Does anybody know whether the Rockbox parametric EQ is worth anything? That may drive my choice of device.)

totally; the RB EQ is superb and the most tweakable, great sounding EQ on any portable player; period

 

[Comfy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hentai11 /img/forum/go_quote.gif 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.

A lot of middle-of-the-line products there.
Middle-of-the-line seems to be quite often crippled on purpose by the manufacturer, because otherwise people wouldn't pay for the top-of-the-line products.

Try some top-of-the-line product next time. Or choose a line that doesn't have different tiers at all, like for example the Phonak Audeo PFE.

 

[Hentai11]

Quote:

A lot of middle-of-the-line products there. Middle-of-the-line seems to be quite often crippled on purpose by the manufacturer, because otherwise people wouldn't pay for the top-of-the-line products. Try some top-of-the-line product next time.

That's eventually be the plan, though there are some other midline products I want to try (RE0, Denon C710, Klipsch X4/X5, as well as the Phonak). The price jump is a bit of a heart-stopper. My most expensive rig so far was my Klipsch Custom 2, $80, new. A quick scan of the classifieds says a USED rig will set me back $200-$250.

No complaints, but I'll have to wash a few extra cars.

 

[Comfy]

I didn't mean top of the line as in "the most expensive you can get". I just meant the ones that don't have any superiors in the same product line. The RE0 and Phonak are like that, and don't cost too much.

 

[Hentai11]

Ah, gotcha. Thanks. I'm hopping on the RE0 fire sale soon.

 

[Bigburger]

I too recommend the UE TripleFi. I started out with entry level IEM's as well and its so true like one person said that for the most part you end up choosing if you want treble or mid-range or bass performance. And while some models are good value, nothing will really impress you like the high end universals for which you budget clearly allows.

Unless you're genuinely interested in trying out a whole bunch of entry/mid-level IEM's go straight to one of the high end universals I say. Buying, trying out, selling comes at a price and chances are that eventually you will end up with one of the big 4 (or is it 5?) universals.