[masamune9210]

Now that I know what heat shrink is, how do I know what width to get and how do I do it? Advantages of heat shrink over tape? (sorry that was off topic, back on topic)

I'm looking forward to your review of the his and mids, from what you're saying it seems like the AT's are better than the IE8

 

[warrior05]

Quote:

Originally Posted by masamune9210 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Now that I know what heat shrink is, how do I know what width to get and how do I do it? Advantages of heat shrink over tape? (sorry that was off topic, back on topic)...

Heatshrink comes in varying ratios 2:1, 3:1, etc. It means how much the tube will shrink when heated. I know nothing about the Turbines but the challenge is if you can get heatshrink big enough to fit over the earpiece but shrink enough to fit tightly around the cable. I doubt you will be able to find anything. The only possibility is if the cable is detachable.

Typically, the best way to shrink heatshrink tubing is with a heat gun. You can also use a soldering iron or a lighter. Need to be very careful with the latter heat source.

As for the topic of this thread: I find this to be an interesting comparison. Haven't looked at earphones for awhile so I've been catching up on the recent offerings. For IEMs I use the SA6 and am satisfied with them. My canalphones are Denon's C700 but would like to try out some that offer a larger soundstage. I was somewhat sold on the IE8s but my reading up on the FX500 and now the CKS70 seem to offer viable alternatives at a much more attractive price point.

To the OP: I took a look back and I don't believe you stated how many hours you have on these earphones. Do they all have at least a 100 hours of use?

 

[masamune9210]

^Thanks, I guess I'm stuck with taping, any suggestions on what tape to use? I think electrical tape (the black tape is what I'm thinking of) would be best, but just want a second opinion

 

[skeptic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zenpunk /img/forum/go_quote.gif ...IE8 looks more and more like one of those FOTM iem. To make things worse I think the Fx and turbine were out well before the IE8.

I hope you're joking? With a proper fit and seal, the IE8's have the same classic Sennheiser house sound as HD650's. If you like dynamics with a bit of a mid-bass hump, odds are you will like the IE8's (assuming you don't have fit issues).

The only FOTM aspect of the IE8's is that they occasionally pop up at bargain prices (ie: $230 on the canadian side of ncix several months back) - then a ton of people rush buy them, and the threads explode. Monster had to hand out free samples to get this sort of attention...

Quote:

Originally Posted by masamune9210 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I heard the IE8s for a few minutes today, and listening to Vivaldi's Spring, I felt the presentation wasn't as up front as the Triple Fi. If anything, I feel the IE7 sounds nearly the same, but is more balanced rather than the IE8s highlighting of the bass. A cello does not sound as deep as it should in the IE8s presentation. Again these are my own opinions, please don't kill me =)

I think it would be helpful if you specified your source, the tips used, hours of burn in on the IE8's (as it is well known that they require several hundred), and what precise recording of Vivaldi's Spring you were listening to, etc before rendering a seemingly categorical judgment like: "[a] cello does not sound as deep as it should in the IE8s presentation."

The fact that you reference "highlighting of the bass" makes me suspect the IE8's were relatively fresh out of the package...at which point in time they do present a muddy and dominant bottom end.

 

[zenpunk]

Skeptic, first I haven't heard the IE8 so I only rely on comments from members of this forum. I was planning on buying the ie8 and followed the appreciaton thread closely, but I became suspicious when those seems to need more and more burning time for people to really enjoy them (must about 200h by now). Someone in this thread even suggested putting tape on the bass knob to get the sound he likes.
I am sure they are great phone but more people are starting to realise you can get headphones with similar qualities for half the price.
Still very curious about the IE8 and really want to try them for myself to make a more objective judgment.
Also, if I remember correctly, masamune said he is playing in an orchestra so I will tend to believe him when he said the sound of the cello was coloured. No big deal as it is the fact that all headphones have a different sound signature that makes this hobby so interesting.

 

[DTKZ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by shigzeo /img/forum/go_quote.gif very well done comparison - great to see such a well thought out write up.

Thanks for the compliment. I've actually read quite a few of your reviews and I modeled mine after yours.

Quote:

Originally Posted by zenpunk /img/forum/go_quote.gif DTKZ, a table comparing specs, driver types and sizes would be nice too.

I'll try to get one done. The Turbines might be quite tricky though, as I think Monster didn't publish a lot the specs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by decay /img/forum/go_quote.gif Now, no offense, but your reply confuses me even more. If how-low-can-you-go is what you meant by bass range, and IE8 is capable of sub-bass, are you trying to say that it's harder to hear low sub-bass as a result of IE8's mid-bass hump?

While I would say that, yes, the sub-bass is harder to notice with the IE8 than the CKS70 and FX500, it goes further than that. It's kind of hard to describe but when going to the IE8 from those 2, it feels like there's something missing in the sub-bass reverb.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HONEYBOY /img/forum/go_quote.gif With regards to whether the Denon c710 had greater impact than the IE8s. I'm judging from memory but I think I am tempted to say that they did have greater impact than both IE8 and FX500.

Thanks for the answer. Argh! It looks like my hunt is not going to be over for a while.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dosley01 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I guess I now have to order a pair of white hybrids too, great L R idea there!

Thanks! I find that it's really useful when you're trying to put in the Turbines in the dark. Their totally symmetrical design is a huge pain in the ass when you're trying to figure out which is which. I found the added visual indicator to be really handy, so I now do it with all my IEMs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by chinesekiwi /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well, I guess we all want this comparison: Head-Direct RE0 vs. JVC/Victor FX-500 vs. Audio Technica CKS70!! Awesome review. Thing is, I prefer quality of bass over the quantity of it. This is what I can conclude from this review as that for electronic music in terms of bass, the CKS70 would be better while for 'natural bass', the FX500 would be better. Am I right?

I'm afraid my new target is probably going to be the new Denon C710, so somebody else will have to step up and do a RE0 comparison. Maybe someone else who has 2 of the 3 already. *Cough cough*

I don't see quality and quantity of bass to be mutually exclusive. It's just that I find that it's hard to combine those 2 qualities and not pay through the nose, which is why I think the CKS70 is good value since it is the cheapest of the 4. Yeah, I would say that the FX500 is better for 'natural' bass and the CKS70 better for electronic music, where more impact may be desirable. The bass impact of the CKS70 may be a little jarring when listening to more mellow music like jazz in comparison to the FX500 where it gels more smoothly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dweaver /img/forum/go_quote.gif The review looks good so far DTKZ, thanks for all the work you done so far . I will be very interested hearing your thoughts on the midrange and treble as these are the areas I love in my full size cans. The fact these have more soundstage than the IE8 is also great news as I love the big sound stage of my full size cans and miss it alot in my TB's.

Thank you, my friend. I know you've been waiting a while for me to post the review. Please bear with me. I have to say though, although the CKS70 has a bigger soundstage, the FX500 may have a better sound signature for your music preferences. See my reply to Chinese Kiwi above.

Quote:

Originally Posted by masamune9210 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm looking forward to your review of the his and mids, from what you're saying it seems like the AT's are better than the IE8

As I mentioned at the under the overall comments section, I think that there are enough differences that, imo, it would be hard to say that one is objectively better than the other. They each have different genres where I think they shine the most. When I edit the review, I'll try to put in more detail how I think they work with different types of music.

Quote:

Originally Posted by warrior05 /img/forum/go_quote.gif To the OP: I took a look back and I don't believe you stated how many hours you have on these earphones. Do they all have at least a 100 hours of use?

They all have over a 100 hours of burn in time. I've had the Turbines since the beginning of the year so they're pretty well used by now. The FX500 and CKS70 have about 150 hours or more each. I bought the IE8 secondhand so I didn't burn them in personally, but the previous owner told me he had about 500 hours on them.

 

[skeptic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zenpunk /img/forum/go_quote.gif Skeptic, first I haven't heard the IE8 so I only rely on comments from members of this forum. I was planning on buying the ie8 and followed the appreciaton thread closely, but I became suspicious when those seems to need more and more burning time for people to really enjoy them (must about 200h by now). Someone in this thread even suggested putting tape on the bass knob to get the sound he likes. I am sure they are great phone but more people are starting to realise you can get headphones with similar qualities for half the price. Still very curious about the IE8 and really want to try them for myself to make a more objective judgment. Also, if I remember correctly, masamune said he is playing in an orchestra so I will tend to believe him when he said the sound of the cello was coloured. No big deal as it is the fact that all headphones have a different sound signature that makes this hobby so interesting.

Zen - I appreciate the response. Here are my thoughts in reply:

1) Don't shy away from any piece of gear solely based on the need for some burn in time. With respect to the IE8's, 90% of the improvement takes place in the first 10 or so hours as the sloppy bass subsides and they start to reveal a much more refined sound sig. I did notice another shift or two down the road (around 100+ hours), but nothing near as dramatic as at the start.

2) You're relatively new to head-fi, so I imagine the IE8 Appreciation thread has probably been topping page 1 of this sub-forum since you joined. That said, I really don't think there's been any new discovery regarding dynamic IEM's with similar qualities at lesser prices. Atrios, for example, predated the IE8's by probably a year or more and are priced at roughly half the IE8's MSRP. Since then, we've seen a lot of attention with respect bargain dynamic IEM's: NE-7m's, turbines, victor's, the new AT's etc. For $50, I really like the 7m's, but they definitely don't match the IE8's in detail, tone, imaging, soundstage, or build quality.

I will also note that with rare exception (and one has to at least consider the possibility that certain posters may be paid shills), you don't see a lot of long time members claiming that turbines/victor's actually trump the IE8's sound quality. Value is another question though, and honestly, as much as I like them, I wouldn't pay full price U.S. for the IE8's. By contrast, at $230, I consider them a steal. YMMV.

3) If someone actually needs to tape over the bass knob to enjoy the IE8's, the IE8's really aren't the right IEM for that person. If high isolation and light bass is what you want - steer clear of dynamics altogether and look no further than Etymotics. [Alternative explanation: we may be discussing a defective pair of IE8's (the bass screw not limiting the air flow enough) or the user in may have unfortunately ended up with counterfeits.]

4) Whether or not an instrument sounds colored is a function of all of the gear involved, and the recording itself, not just the headphones. That's why I asked for more info from masamune. His/her orchestral experience provides some basis for comparison, but it simply is not the determining factor. For the record - I sang professionally in a major metropolitan opera chorus, performed in four major film scores, and played french horn as a young adult in the Sydney Opera House....it still doesn't mean that I get to make categorical judgments about how gear will perform in rendering a particular instrument irrespective of the source, amp, and recording at issue.

In any event, nice chatting with you

 

[decay]

Eh, just to clarify on taping over IE8's bass dial:
1. It's just an option to alter IE8's sound, just like the bass dial on IE8
(min-max, partially blocked-completely blocked)
In no ways is this needed to enjoy IE8, similar to how you can enjoy IE8
without knowing there is a bass dial.
2. Depending on what tip you use (main factor alter IE8's sound after the
first 24hr burn-in)
blocking the bass dial can calm the mid-bass hump (only slightly so after
1000hr+) without affecting the sub-bass.
3. For IE8, light bass and no isolation can be achieved, but light bass and
high isolation is neigh impossible without EQing given that the better seal
or deeper insertion you have the more bass you hear.

Concurring with skeptic on taking even an musician's opinion on a headphone/IEM
with a grain of salt. The most authoritative people are the mastering engineer and
recording engineer of a particular record for they know what it's suppose to sound
and how it did sound, on rare instances neither can comment on a recording with
certainty because the sound was tampered with after it was mastered. IMO, on
masamune's case the cello he hears on stage will strongly influence what he
perceives as the right sound, except that what you hear in the audience is different
and what you hear on record is even more different (if only a minuscule amount), his
opinion is no different than the rest of us on how a cello is suppose to sound on a
certain recording. But one thing's for certain: IE8's reproduction of cellos is different
from how real cello sound on stage (along with the audiences)

(Apologies beforehand if I presumed stuffs)

 

[neoufo51]

Hmmm, I really want to buy the ATH-CKS70 now. Looks like a great deal.

 

[Chronos]

Quote:

Originally Posted by skeptic /img/forum/go_quote.gif Zen - I appreciate the response. Here are my thoughts in reply: I will also note that with rare exception (and one has to at least consider the possibility that certain posters may be paid shills), you don't see a lot of long time members claiming that turbines/victor's actually trump the IE8's sound quality.

Thats actually the thing with the victors, there are quite a few long time members who claim the victors trump the IE8's in many aspects.

 

[insyte]

Very well written review

Looking forward to its completion

Made me curious to hear the CKS70 and FX500

 

[masamune9210]

Skeptic, like I said, those are my opinions. I don't have all the specifics on the IE8, as it was one of those demo ones in the store, I listened for 10 minutes, I used the store's iPod Classic since I didn't have my own source on me. I'm saying a cello doesn't sound like it should because its MY opinion, if you don't like it, ignore it.

 

[shigzeo]

i will be reviewing the wm2 from mingo, a wooden iem of smaller shape, whose size is similar to the cx300. the one i am using now is as bassy if not more than any iem i have yet used. at times, i would say too strong for my tastes and my wife: she mentioned straightaway that it was too much.

however, it is not bad and otherwise, these have very well-defined lines and a very good 3D image, not the biggest stage, but very good 3D image.

 

[zenpunk]

Skeptic and Decay, thanks for the clarification. But as Chronos mentionned the few senior members of this forum who happen to own both and have experience with high end gear seem to suggest the FX is a "better" iem. Well as I said I will have to find out for myself. Curiosity kills the cat..
If I could get my hand on pair of IE8 for USD230 (£140) I will have no hestation at making the jump. Still checking Ebay for that special bargain so

 

[zenpunk]

Shigzeo, what is a Wm2 from Mingo?? not another iem only available in Asia I hope. There is no need for more iem around here or they better be crap.