Best in-ear monitors with killer bass?

[Afroman]

Greetings head-fi forumers
I am a longtime lurker of the forums and a general fan of the site.

I am looking to get a pair of buds to use with an MP3 player at the gym. My favourite genre of music is drum & bass... not very well known in the USA, but basically there is a huge emphasis on the bassline - a lot of the 'music' falls below 30hz. As such, I would like to get buds that can deliver a ton of bass, but are still really clear and do a good job on the rest of the spectrum.

I'm an electrical engineer by trade and I've been examining frequency response plots on Headroom.com, and it looks like the Shure E5C / E500 might be good choices. Apparently Apple's earphones are good too?!
http://www.headphone.com/technical/p...are+Headphones
I was wondering if you, the expert community, had any other suggestions or advice.

As a reference point, I have Sennheiser 650s + homemade amp and love the clarity but often wish there was a bit more bass. Noise isolation is nice, but not a priority. I am not concerned about price.

Any suggestions you have are very much appreciated thank you!

 

[audiofreak7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Afroman /img/forum/go_quote.gif Greetings head-fi forumers I am a longtime lurker of the forums and a general fan of the site. I am looking to get a pair of buds to use with an MP3 player at the gym. My favourite genre of music is drum & bass... not very well known in the USA, but basically there is a huge emphasis on the bassline - a lot of the 'music' falls below 30hz. As such, I would like to get buds that can deliver a ton of bass, but are still really clear and do a good job on the rest of the spectrum. I'm an electrical engineer by trade and I've been examining frequency response plots on Headroom.com, and it looks like the Shure E5C / E500 might be good choices. Apparently Apple's earphones are good too?! http://www.headphone.com/technical/p...are+Headphones I was wondering if you, the expert community, had any other suggestions or advice. As a reference point, I have Sennheiser 650s + homemade amp and love the clarity but often wish there was a bit more bass. Noise isolation is nice, but not a priority. I am not concerned about price. Any suggestions you have are very much appreciated thank you!

Although I hated on these in an earlier thread, you might like the Ultimate Ears super.fi 5Pro. They aren't as accurate as the E5C but have killer bass.

 

[vYu223]

You might want to check out this thread: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=226648

 

[megamanwich]

Westone UM2s have nice bass and I found them to be more comfortable than my UE super.fi 5 pros.

 

[Afroman]

Great advice! Thanks so much guys I knew you would be helpful. I would have made a mistake going with the Shures.

 

[lmilhan]

Of the IEMs I have owned (Shure E4Cs, E500s and UM2s) the E500s far and away are the best in every category, including bass reproduction. For whatever that is worth.

If you are a Basshead (which it seems that you may very well be), perhaps the Super.fi 5 EBs would suit you. I haven't yet heard these, so I can't give real life experience, but from all reports I have read here at Head-Fi, the consensus is that these are THE 'basshead' phones. That doesn't necessarily mean that they sound good though, but they will have ample Bass!

It is all so subjective. My best advice is to buy them from someplace with a killer return policy. You need to ultimately decide yourself with your own ears.

Also keep in mind that the UM3s are comming out soon...

It never freakin' ends. It is a curse I tell you.

 

[311bliss]

There is no mistake with an E5, BASS heavy they are. I have had the E5 for a few years, nothing I've tried comes close. They are an IEM you can feel and they can even shake you and are extreemly sonicly pleasing. Highly reccomend...I'm into drum and bass as well, Have played for well over a decade and Im really into home theater as well so I require a lot of bass to feel satisfied.

 

[ILikeMusic]

Quote:

Great advice! Thanks so much guys I knew you would be helpful. I would have made a mistake going with the Shures.

A thread directing you towards the ER-4 is not particularly good advice for someone looking for an IEM to deal with bass-heavy program material. And far from being a mistake, the Shure E500 would actually be an excellent choice for your purposes.

 

[audiofreak7]

I say go with the super.fi 3's if you want to save some cash, or go with the E5C if you want some flat sonics with your bass.

 

[Tbln]

From my experience, these would fit ther bill:

E500 for quantity and quality of bass.
UM2 for bass quantity with not so tight bass

A retailer with a liberal return policy would also be a great choice.

 

[chowk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ILikeMusic /img/forum/go_quote.gif A thread directing you towards the ER-4 is not particularly good advice for someone looking for an IEM to deal with bass-heavy program material. And far from being a mistake, the Shure E500 would actually be an excellent choice for your purposes.

x 2

 

[ZARIM]

SF 5pro, SF 5EB(extrabass), CX300, E2c and E500PTH........

 

[kikkomang]

if you want extreme bass that sounds terrible and will indeed "kill" you, then get a pair of koss spark plugs. it's a real killer.

 

[audiofreak7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kikkomang /img/forum/go_quote.gif if you want extreme bass that sounds terrible and will indeed "kill" you, then get a pair of koss spark plugs. it's a real killer.

Not to mention they completely suck otherwise.

 

[nickknutson]

Dude, if you like the sound of the HD650's, you'll like the E500's. IMO, the E500's are the earphone that most sounds like the HD650's.