[aluren]

Quote:

My clock radio puts out a similar sound as the Onkyo system at/near zero volume levels. It's obvious what happens as you turn device and system up.
 
My 7 year old ($9) Skullcandy earphone actually sounds a little better (bass/treble-wise) than my old ($400) Shure E5 earphone out of the headphone-out on my iPod Touch 3G. As I connect these earphones to different sources (using other software apps), the E5 scales up while the Skullcandy just get annoying loud. It's not as dramatic as the clock radio to Onkyo system but it's quite noticeable. And when you're like me and almost exclusively use IEMs in a noisy work place for many hours a day, noise-blocking is a must.
 
I wish wish wish Google, Apple, Samsung (and others) would treat sound the way they do the video screen of their devices (i.e. make it better with every new edition). These companies really have the capability of doing the headphone aftermarket like they did the GPS market (just obliterate it by bundling great sounding IEMs with top-notch sounding devices).
 
I've never heard the Earpod but I'll give it a listen. I love a bargain. I'm not married to the notion that more expensive means “better”. I'm more annoyed by the pricing structure.
 

I agree. Maybe when iTunes start selling lossless music, we'll see a new wave of hardware enhancements. Give it another 5 years after there's nothing left to improve.

 

[mattg3]

Im using the earpod with my new Nano and i find treble very harsh.Any way to tame the treble on these phones?The nano just gives preset equalization categories,wish it allowed me to go in and equalize the treble but thats only feature of Itunes on my Imac.Would burn in calm down the harshness?

 

[lwien]

Get the foamies that I mentioned previously.
 

 

[mattg3]

Sorry to bother you but could you tell me where to get them or post a link.Thanks
 

 

[lwien]

I got mine at Radio Shack.    They can also be purchased on Amazon, but the ones from Radio Shack are better in that they don't tear when putting them on.    Much less fragile.
 

 

[WinterCharm]

For those of you who might be interested, I found InnerFidelity's measurements on the Ear Pods. Take a look: 
 
http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/AppleEarPods.pdf
 
That huge bass rolloff is why I can't hear the bass drums on the track Barbossa is Hungry (Pirates soundtrack, by Hans Zimmer) 
 
Notice, however, that the MidBass and Mids are nicely balanced, though the mids are a bit forward in relation to the highs. The reason they sound so smooth, and still give some sparkle is that spike in the highs give you a little more detail, while not screeching in your ears. 

 

[WinterCharm]

Quote:

Im using the earpod with my new Nano and i find treble very harsh.Any way to tame the treble on these phones?The nano just gives preset equalization categories,wish it allowed me to go in and equalize the treble but thats only feature of Itunes on my Imac.Would burn in calm down the harshness?

 
You can assign equalization presets to each song in iTunes - then, when you sync them over, the custom preset is stored in the metadata for the song, and your nano will EQ on a per-song basis automatically. 
 
And to lower the treble, there is a bass boost EQ that might help you out.

 

[tinyman392]

Quote:

 
You can assign equalization presets to each song in iTunes - then, when you sync them over, the custom preset is stored in the metadata for the song, and your nano will EQ on a per-song basis automatically. 
 
And to lower the treble, there is a bass boost EQ that might help you out.

 
That doesn't work.  It's been tested and doesn't work. The only presets that will sync are pre-made ones (ones that are also on your iPod). 
 
Additionally, I'd like to add that iTunes presents aren't the same as iPod presets, iPod lets little to no boost go above 0 dB while the iTunes will have stuff go above 0 dB.  Basically, the bass boost on the iPod is lowering every other frequency (mids and highs) while iTunes actually does a bass boost.
 
Tested using: iPod Video (30 GB) and iPod Touch (1G, 2G, 4G, 5G) though the years.

 

[mattg3]

Quote:

 
You can assign equalization presets to each song in iTunes - then, when you sync them over, the custom preset is stored in the metadata for the song, and your nano will EQ on a per-song basis automatically. 
 
And to lower the treble, there is a bass boost EQ that might help you out.

So to lower the harsh treble I should stay away from the lower treble preset and use the bass boost?Thanks for your help.

 

[audioKyle]

Never knew there was an appreciation thread for these. I thought i may have been the only one who thought these are fantastic for the price (imo). For $30 these sound great and are much more comfortable for me to wear rather than (most) iems. I was quite surprised when i first heard these.

 

[kimvictor]

Quote:

Never knew there was an appreciation thread for these. I thought i may have been the only one who thought these are fantastic for the price (imo). For $30 these sound great and are much more comfortable for me to wear rather than (most) iems. I was quite surprised when i first heard these.

Everyone here wer surprised as well. I mean, the last ear buds were crap.

 

[mattg3]

While I have been posting here on harsh treble my earpods have been connected to an old creative player for 24 hours trying to get some burn in time.I tried them out a few moments ago and was shocked to find a lot of the treble harshness reduced.Im going to give the pods another 24 hours burn in but I guess this concept really works.As far as equalization on the Nano its awful and takes the life right out of the music no matter if its reduced treble or bass boost.Apple really missed the boat on EQ settings on the nano but the phones are a keeper.

 

[lwien]

Quote:

While I have been posting here on harsh treble my earpods have been connected to an old creative player for 24 hours trying to get some burn in time.I tried them out a few moments ago and was shocked to find a lot of the treble harshness reduced.Im going to give the pods another 24 hours burn in but I guess this concept really works.As far as equalization on the Nano its awful and takes the life right out of the music no matter if its reduced treble or bass boost.Apple really missed the boat on EQ settings on the nano but the phones are a keeper.

 
And I know I keep repeating myself, but if you haven't tried them with foamies installed, please do.    It will be a VERY pleasant surprise.

 

[mattg3]

Quote:

 
And I know I keep repeating myself, but if you haven't tried them with foamies installed, please do.    It will be a VERY pleasant surprise.

Hard for me to figure out how a foam cap for a round headphone can fit on these odd shaped pods without constantly falling off?I had some old creative phones with small foam pads on them and I tried to fit them over the pods but they kept coming off in my ears so I must not have the concept figured out.Do you happen to have any pictures posted of foamies on your pods?

 

[lwien]

Quote:

Hard for me to figure out how a foam cap for a round headphone can fit on these odd shaped pods without constantly falling off?I had some old creative phones with small foam pads on them and I tried to fit them over the pods but they kept coming off in my ears so I must not have the concept figured out.Do you happen to have any pictures posted of foamies on your pods?

This is how they look.   I've never had them come off in my ears, but the only ones I've ever used were from Radio Shack.   I think that they are a tighter fit than the other ones that can be purchased on Amazon while at the same time being pretty much tear resistant.