[laxlife1234]

Quote:

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


Ergonomics
 
The earphone itself is quite long, and sticks a long way inside your ear. It does get uncomfortable after long usage, since it goes quite far in. Theres 5 pairs of earbuds in total, and you can change them easily. Although the long tips, the earphones itself fits quite easily into your ear, and hangs there really stably. It wont fall out without a hard tug. Im pretty impressed with the fit, but it may be different for everyone.
 
Now on to the wire. Yes it doesnt tangle no matter what you do, unless you deliberately tie a knot in it...I was disappointed that the flat red wire was quite soft. They bend and twist easily and gives me the impression that they're really fragile. Compared to the Sony MDR-XB700 i have, their wires are a lot more rigid, and gives a higher quality impression. Also, for the Tours, where the red wire meets the jack, the plastic coat on the jack is quite hard, and this can wear off the soft wire easily, and since the wire bends easily, it often rubs against the hard plastic jack.
 
Sound Isolation
 
The sound isolation is actually pretty good with the music playing. You do notice that the sound levels reduce significantly even without music. While listening to music on the bus or on the subway, i can't hear any surrounding sound unless they're LOUD. However, to my disappointment, i noticed that electronic sounds coming from speakers (eg. the subway stop announcing thingy) gets past the noise isolation. This is a good earphone to bring around with, since usually you won't hear any outside sound (careful crossing the roads). it does come with a rugged case, and with your earphones inside it, its near impossible to damage them.
 
Sound
 
I know you guys are all waiting for this. Lets begin.
The sound is EXCELLENT with CERTAIN types of music, and HORRIBLE for others.
 
OK i listened to a few songs with the Tours using an iPod Touch 8Gb and Sony W595 and Sony Vivaz and my Laptop (Lenovo Thinkpad X200s). The equipment did not really make a huge difference to the sound, just that the Vivaz sucked at music and im never using them for music again. 
 
I played the following songs on my laptop using Winamp (i just listened to them while i was doing something...time passed quickly). These are the genres i like to listen to, and i chose some different genres so people can see what Tour will do to their music.
 
 
P.S. Dont use while eating...you can barely hear anything like that.
PPS. When walking, the wire knocking against you when walking makes sound which is disrupting.

Bold=Strongly Agree
Italic=Halfway between Agree/Disagree
Underline=Strongly Disagree
 
I have also had the pleasure of owning these, so these are coming from my perspective.
 
These can get REALLY uncomfortable after even 30 min of constant wear. Also once you take them out it feels like someone punched you in the ear. No matter who you are though, the fit will be hard to achieve at first, so you have to play around, and the fact that they don't include foams makes it more challenging. The wire is truly something else though, It NEVER tangles, let me repeat myself... It NEVER tangles.
 
When he was talking about the sound isolation, I would rate them at a 1.5/5 in terms of the isolation. I don't know if he has ever hear a pair of shure in-ears, or westone's but these have little--to no sound isolation. Sound isolation is being able to hear your music, and only your music my Westone 3's I could hear nothing when the music was playing at even a quarter of the volume.
 
For the sound once you hear a lot better IEM's, it kind of makes these look like sheet. Since rap doesn't really have any straight-forward mids, these are really only good for that genre. I can say that once listened to after 50+ hours, I found the bass got a lot better. It never had any simbilance even when my volume was all the way up. These are not however ideal for pop (IMO), acoustic, classical, etc.. anything with a lot of highs/mids these do not perform well at all as said before. It just makes the sound... well sound sloppy.
 
And the P.S. and P.P.S. is the best way to not listen to these. Since they don't have foam sleeves, when eating it just makes the sound get all interrupted and such.

 

[Xymordos]

@ljokerl: Im not sure what you mean. if you seen the Sony MDR XB700s they have flat cables too.
 
@laxlife1234: sorry when i meant pop, it was kpop and jpop and gaga styles heh.
for those genres this is really the one to buy! these places wrong emphasis on other genres.
and by sound isolation i dont mean by standing next to a plane ==". when your on the streets and in the bus, its pretty good sound isolation considering i cant actually hear the surroundings. i just have the problem with the tapping of the wires against my chest :S
 

 

[ljokerl]

Quote:

@ljokerl: Im not sure what you mean. if you seen the Sony MDR XB700s they have flat cables too.

Over-the-ear is a way of wearing in-ear earphones that reduces microphonics. XB700s have nothing to do with it.
 

 
Flat cables can make routing certain IEMs over-the-ear unnecessarily difficult.

 

[Xymordos]

ahh thanks for clarifying
yeah a think cable just cant go over your ear...
but i've seen people try to wear beats that way on the streets
seemed ok..

 

[jjmai]

I thought Beats Tour and XB700 must be aiming for the same crowds with their unorthodox looks.  Kind of surprised how poor Beats Tour's bass is compared with XB700, since the only thing I expect out of Beats Tour would've been bass.  Then again, it's IEM vs fullsize....

 

[Xymordos]

beats have a tighter bass compared to the sonys
buy sony goes alot lower and can be suitable for more music
beats is jsut great for one genre\
 
when i bought them i thought they both looked very attractive and they both had strong bass advertised

 

[laxlife1234]

Quote:

@laxlife1234: sorry when i meant pop, it was kpop and jpop and gaga styles heh.
for those genres this is really the one to buy! these places wrong emphasis on other genres.
and by sound isolation i dont mean by standing next to a plane ==". when your on the streets and in the bus, its pretty good sound isolation considering i cant actually hear the surroundings. i just have the problem with the tapping of the wires against my chest :S
 

Oh, yeah that sucks. But, I found the noise isolation to suck compared to some other higher-end earphones. Trust me though, I am not even close to standing near a plane anytime soon. But, it is just my opinion.

 

[Xymordos]

well i think it really depends on what music you listen to
music with bass is nicely isolated, you listen to something without bass then you cant even hear it.

 

[a_recording]

Quote:

btw i see you have a walkman
how is it? im considering one

I reckon the Walkman's aren't bad. It's unfortunate that they don't really support lossless conveniently, but then again they do support AAC which means that the few tracks I buy off iTunes work. The best part is that they are small and light, with good physical controls and battery life. I've stopped using mine since I got my iPhone 4 though. I'm really very surprised at how much better it is, even if the Walkman is now more than a few years old.

 

[Xymordos]

hmm walkman e, walkman s, walkman x...which is better
iphones are just too expensive lol
so im interested in sony coz its readily available here

 

[a_recording]

Quote:

hmm walkman e, walkman s, walkman x...which is better
iphones are just too expensive lol
so im interested in sony coz its readily available here

 
You might want to have a look at the portable source gear forums. The X is meant to be the best, but its a bit overpriced. Don't forget the A series either!
 

 

[Xymordos]

Ahh can you rank them then?
 
i couldnt find it in the portable...they all said they suck ==

 

[a_recording]

I believe the general ranking is X > A > S >E. Although its debatable how good any of them really are - the initial reviews of the A seemed to be a bit of a disappointment to quite a few.
 
You might want to consider a Cowon player instead.

 

[Xymordos]

Cowon? i'll have a look
its not that easy to get small brands :S

 

[JennaFF]

Quote:

I tend to agree; they look cool and could have been great. The Lady Gaga heartbeats, coincidentally, sound better for a large variety of genres. I wonder if they are just the Turbine in a new shell. The Tour Beats are another beast that can sound great, but can sound poor.
 
I think your review and mine echo each other nicely.

I love your  avatar.