[decay]

@zenpunk:
Mingo is an IEM company based in HongKong, contact them to see if there's authorized reseller
(doubt it) in your area or if they ship internationally.

As to senior members who own and/or experienced high end gears suggesting that they like
FX500 better and that FX500 surpass IE8 in several area, they simply haven't experienced
IE8 in its best.

After I haven't listened to my IE8 for a day and half, changing the tips to the
"Personal best tips
that come with your purchase" in my sig I found that those tips sound pretty good, a good headstage
sometimes give you the illusion that the sound comes from outside your head, and based on my
memory of my current tips they(not the transformer one) give a closer presentation so more
intimacy, a slight veil and overall slightly muddier, warmer, and 6-7db of background hiss. Better
headstage and treble than complys which give better bass and times better isolation. Then I deeply
inserted the himalayas (How deep? equal or exceeds ER4 with tri-flange), and... I can't go back to
any other tip.

If what you generally hear sound coming from IE8 positioned in the headstage around the
skull and a bit further from the skins on your head, and when you close your eyes it's easy to imagine
a band playing before you, sometimes you feel that the band really is playing before you.
What I hear is sound placed 1-2 inches to less than a feet away from the skins on my forehead,
the horizontal distance didn't change much if the track you are listening to is recorded with the mic
close to the instrument/artist, as the scale of the room in the recording increases the horizontal
distance of the head stage increases (basically a 120 degree cone with the tip behind my head,
instead of the 180 degree headstage from default IE8), but the depth! You can browse Head-fi
and the sound is still coming outside of your head.

Unlike other remarks on Head-fi, no?

And there's no amp or dac in my configuration...

 

[koven]

OP, thanks for the review but when will the mids/highs section be completed?

 

[david1978jp]

.

 

[average_joe]

Anyone have a W3 vs. FX500 and CKS70 comparison? Kind of like decay, I think the IE8 has potential that is untapped because of tips/fit. Also, while this may sound crazy, 100 hours of burn in is no where near enough. In my experience as many others in the IE8 thread the IE8 really starts to shine after somewhere between 250 and 400 hours of burn in.

I am not saying the others don't have aspects that trump the IE8, but I know my experience with the IE8 and have listened to the W3, UM3X, and a universal fit UE11. Other than the UE11, I prefer the IE8.

I can agree with the IE8 deep bass as my NE-7 accentuates the deep bass more than the IE8, and I do really like that, but that is all the NE-7 does better, and the IE8 is far superior by a long shot. Not that the deep bass is missing from the IE8, it just isn't as prominent as the NE-7, but the mid-bass is more prominent.

EDIT: not saying the NE-7 compares with any of the IEMs in this thread, just a point of reference.

I was going to grab the FX500 just to see what all the "hype" was about except for this comment "as for the FX500, while it may go the lowest, it doesn't have the punch of the IE8 and CKS70." Now I am thinking of the CKS70 but am wondering how much detail and transparency do they have and how does the stage compare with the IE8?

 

[skeptic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by masamune9210 /img/forum/go_quote.gif 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.

What I was trying to do, masamune, was to establish the relative value of YOUR opinion so that other head-fiers would know how to weigh it in forming judgments about the IE8's.

If you had qualified your post a bit to reference particular tracks, source, etc, I wouldn't have had a problem with it at all. Then you would have been stating a competent opinion on what you actually heard. Instead, you made a categorical statement about the performance of a HP you don't own, based on 10 minutes of listening time, via a sub-par source, and from an unspecified recording (of unknown bitrate). That couldn't just be ignored...

 

[shigzeo]

the fx500 certainly has the punch, but the punch is much, much lower. the ie8 simply punches very high. even with the nozzle turned up, it still punches too high.

the mingo may indeed be too bassy for some people. i find it on the edge of too much. my wife says it is too much. but, that is when listening to trance. when listening to other music types that don't hammer bass on such a regular gait, it is beautiful. again, like the victor, there is no nasty echo like there is with some of the other good moving coil iems (atrio, denon c700, ie8) when listening to trance, just too much bass!

if you can get on with the bass, these are one of the tightest sounding iems in the price range (under 80$)

 

[chinesekiwi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by david1978jp /img/forum/go_quote.gif Why do you guys praise FX500 so much? It is a E2C with much/better bass line, not much more. This giant killer thing is unjustified. Sure, although it is good, please take out your E2C and EQ it. The new S4 and not so new EX500 perform on par with FX500, they are around $80 USD. Do you really like bass, the cheap (stupid sounding? artificially sounding?) Radius Atoms easily punch out FX500. Yes, I have FX500 here with whole week of burn in, it is not that special. (My reference sound is Denon AH-D5000).

"a week burn-in" -well ,that can mean anything tbh. How many hours did you burn it in? (as the FX500 does change quite a bit with burn-in).
Also did you experiment with other tips as well, the default ones kinda suck.

 

[zenpunk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chinesekiwi /img/forum/go_quote.gif "a week burn-in" -well ,that can mean anything tbh. How many hours did you burn it in? (as the FX500 does change quite a bit with burn-in). Also did you experiment with other tips as well, the default ones kinda suck.

Yeah, they really improve after 400 hours.

Only kidding, don't kill me!

 

[average_joe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by shigzeo /img/forum/go_quote.gif the fx500 certainly has the punch, but the punch is much, much lower. the ie8 simply punches very high. even with the nozzle turned up, it still punches too high.

Very high meaning in the frequency range, or high meaning loud (my guess is freq. range).

Quote:

Originally Posted by zenpunk /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yeah, they really improve after 400 hours. Only kidding, don't kill me!

After the IE8, I don't doubt comments like that anymore!

 

[shigzeo]

sorry, i mean high in frequency range, but the ie8 is certainly loud in that punch. it is a good phone, but the sound is not for me or my music. for my music, loud upper bass in a plastic shell makes terrible echo sounds - sounds that made me sell my atrio; sounds that i don't really want to hear again.

 

[Duncan]

Quote:

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

I am one of those 'rare exceptions', and am no shill...

I am also the founder member of the IE8 appreciation thread... and was happy with the IE8s for seven months.. it is just that - for me, the synergy between the FX500 and the Sony X1000 player is a match made in heaven... one that leaves the IE8s trailing on several aspects when compared to the JVCs

Quote:

Originally Posted by decay /img/forum/go_quote.gif As to senior members who own and/or experienced high end gears suggesting that they like FX500 better and that FX500 surpass IE8 in several area, they simply haven't experienced IE8 in its best/.

I find this interesting, that I cannot even accept what I hear myself, by the terms of this snippet of post..

...Sorry that I am not complying with the 'majority', but hey - its my hearing, and - my opinion

 

[willw]

Duncan said::
"the synergy between the FX500 and the Sony X1000 player is a match made in heaven"

Is anyone able to compare the sound sig of the Sony X1000 to that of the Cowon iAudio7? I now have the FX500s, and they are indeed truly impressive, although the mids are a little too far back, and I have to EQ to overcome this. I have removed the filters which helps only a little.
I had and loved the sound of the IE8s, but they just would not stay put in my ears. If I could get them for around the same price as the Victors I'd keep them around to play with some more.

I only have experience of the Cowon and my old Sony minidisc (still sounds fantastic) but would be interested to hear what it is about the X1000 which makes the Victors shine.
Thanks.

 

[decay]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duncan /img/forum/go_quote.gif I am one of those 'rare exceptions', and am no shill... I am also the founder member of the IE8 appreciation thread... and was happy with the IE8s for seven months.. it is just that - for me, the synergy between the FX500 and the Sony X1000 player is a match made in heaven... one that leaves the IE8s trailing on several aspects when compared to the JVCs I find this interesting, that I cannot even accept what I hear myself, by the terms of this snippet of post.. ...Sorry that I am not complying with the 'majority', but hey - its my hearing, and - my opinion

I hope you didn't take my "opinion" as an attack on anyone who owned both IEMs
and preferred the JVC, for their opinions are as valid as mine could be and
even more so since few would play with IE8 to an extent (or shall we say extreme) that
matches mine

. However, what one hears is what one hears, especially when the
difference can be replicated in different songs and sources; a simple mod consisting
the Senn big and small foams and SS sony hybrids when inserted as deep as possible
give an entirely different sound than what I'm hearing with Tp. Himalayas, and I've
already wrote too many impressions on that.(

) Also consider that I removed
the metal mesh which improves the sound by a marginal but noticeable amount,
yet most sane people will never consider such mod when they still have their warranty
(and many will not even when the warranty expires). Y'all simply have too many toys
to play with

, I can only make the most out of what I have, and I did.

 

[zenpunk]

Decay, I understand you are very fond of your IE8 but I don't understand how you can defend them against the JVC when you haven't heard the FX500 so can't compare them. Or am I missing something...You should give the Victor a try and you might get surprised. Same for me.
Maybe we should swap our pairs for a week, if you are in the UK.

 

[Duncan]

zenpunk...

What source are you using to power your FX500?

Seeing that you're based in London, and seeing that in three weeks time I am off of work for two weeks with plenty of time to kill, maybe we can arrange a mini London meet or something, then you could get a chance to hear the 'original' IE8 (ie, my pair that was AFAIK the first, other than Jude's on the forums)

I think that'd be interesting as it goes... up for it?