[HKgirl]

Hello IEM experts!
I'm someone who loves to listen to pop, techno R&B, hip hop etc!
What could be my best IEMs , unamped of course since I use a Sony MW600 bluetooth to plug the IEMs into and my source is HTC desire and ipod video.
 
Also, do you think using the IEMs thru' the bluetooth receiver degrades the music?
I currently have a friend's Brainwavz 3 I am listening to and like it!
But from what i understand thru' these forums, maybe I need something more bassy for my taste!
 
Any recommendations for under $200 (ok, let me admit, a little over is fine too!)
Also, the availability in HK would be an imp issue... any audophile HKers around?
 
Was thinking IE8, DDM, TF10s or maybe HJE900 based on the reviews here.. what do you think?
 
I would require decent isolation since I use it during commute on the MTR & bus here in HK!
 
Thanks & Cheers!

 

[yello131]

Welcome to Headfi!
DDM are among best Value IEMs on the market and is just amazing what you get for under 200US.
However Isolation is not all that good for noisy and loud commutes. So that could be a problem..
Another option is DBA02. Also in my opinion best value Dual Driver in the market. I am not sure you can get this at HK..
You can get DBA-02 from Dimitri from MA http://www.musicaacoustics.com/DBA-02.html
P.S. I just noticed Dba2 are On Sale with Free shipping worldwide... a great deal.

 

[DrHouse]

for your style of music, the ie8 is a very good choice

 

[HKgirl]

@yello131 & @DrHouse, your suggestions are much appreciated.
Does the DBA-02 have enough bass,you think?
The IE8 has been something I am leaning towards, but got discouraged on reading a review from dkft on here..he said the sound went from wow to boring over 300 or so hours! (it could be somebody else too,i'm confused!!)
The IE8 here in HK is 3+ times the price of the DDM, worth it you would say?

 

[mywallethurts]

DDM

 

[DrHouse]

Never tried the ddm, so cant help you there. 
I say the opposite, the sound went from harsh to wow as time passed. sounded very rough and harshly bright to begin with.
And those may just be people who listen to other genres of music that maybe shure headphones care more suited for.
others may prefer the sound of armature headphones to dynamic driver? Its been suggested before.
Just listening to ie8s with dubstep as i write this, the sound signature of the ie8 is great for the sort of music you have described. 
At the end of the day, it would be best to try em for yourself, but I guarantee for your music it will be hard to find a better IEM. 
As for price, have you tried amazon?

 

[PretentiousFood]

Quote:

. You can get DBA-02 from Dimitri from MA http://www.musicaacoustics.com/DBA-02.html
P.S. I just noticed Dba2 are On Sale with Free shipping worldwide... a great deal.

 Oh my god thank you so much, I almost ordered it last time you mentioned that MA has it but it was $200 + shipping at the time. Now it's cheaper than Bugden!

 

[jhkc]

hey hk girl, although i'm pretty new to the head phone scene (as you can see, i joined pretty much the same time as you), i do know quite a few places in hk where you can get headphones for usually as cheap as off the internet with the added benefit of being able to try pretty much every headphone/amp you can think of. Just last week i was in the stores for hours over 2 days trying their equipment before i managed to buy anything......(same goes for when i actually go to buy the headphones......)
 
with regards to the ie 8's, i'm about to get my hands on a friends set in the next few days so i can give you my impression of them after but just out of curiosity how much did you find the ie 8's for in hk?? from what i can tell it's usually retailing for about $2600HKD??

 

[rank08822]

I'm pretty new here, but I think the Monster Turbine Pro Gold Edition would be a good choice for you based on your music taste (I'm assuming you want a fun rather than analytical sound with good bass?) I listen to mainly hip-hop and pop and they sound amazing with the MPTG. Not sure about availability in HK, but Monster is a big brand so I feel you should be able to find it rather easily, and I got mine for 170. Isolation is amazing with them. I was using an ER6I (known for its isolation) before I got the MTPG, and although the MTPG isolate noticeably less it's still enough for the subway or even in a cafeteria full of noisy students! They also look really cool (IMHO) which is something a lot of top tier IEM's don't have.
 
I have never owned the IE8's, but I feel you should know that the weak isolation of IE8 is a very common criticism. See joker's massive review, where he gave it a 2.5 out of 5 (the monster turbine gold's got 4.5 out of 5). http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/478568/multi-iem-review-147-iems-compared-h2o-audio-flex-added-02-24-contest-in-post-2161#post_6492057
 
And this is a comparison of various top tier IEM's again listing isolation as a weakness of the IE8's. http://i545.photobucket.com/albums/hh378/rock_scissors_paper/TopTier.png

 

[average_joe]

In my experience, balanced armature IEMs (CK10, DBA-02, etc.) perform better unamped than dynamic drivers.  But, since you are asking for something more bassy, the BAs probably aren't for you and the DDM is probably the best bang for the buck.  The FX700 is also a good IEM and received lots of love here at one time.  The link to the comparison is in my old thread here, but hasn't been updated in a while.  
 
In my experience, bluetooth and even Kleer reduce sound quality compared with a wired system when using highly resolving headphones such as the ones you are looking for.  The better the resolution, the worse wireless sounds to me as I could hear what seemed to me like a loss in fine details of the music.