[wilfredt]

Oophs, lindrone, you 've taken my word too serious. I am just complaining you are going ahead of us (or just me) too fast, especially just after my e5c purchase.

But then this is just a stupid joke and my stupid thought.

 

[rextrade]

If you don't like your headphones, send them back. I had planned to send the e5cs back for a while, but after three weeks of listening to them, I feel like I can't live with out them (although my etys are my true love).

Lindrone's reviews have been great. Although maybe he could review some cheapo products?

 

[lindrone]

Quote:

Originally posted by wilfredt Oophs, lindrone, you 've taken my word too serious. I am just complaining you are going ahead of us (or just me) too fast, especially just after my e5c purchase. But then this is just a stupid joke and my stupid thought.

Okay

I am hyper-sensitive 'bout those words.. seen them too many times...

Quote:

Originally posted by rextrade Lindrone's reviews have been great. Although maybe he could review some cheapo products?

I have sorta put up impressions on some cheaper products, headphones like AT-A500, Sony V6, HD280... so on.. so forth. However, other than A500 vs. A900 (which was a bit lacking in comparison and sources before), I never really got down to write a full review of the rest.

I don't know, once you get yourself into the high-end headphones, it's really hard to settle down and appreciate lower-end headphones for what they're worth. It's harder to really dedicate a lot of time to write a thorough review for them as well

 

[smeggy]

Well I am pleased to say that I did own my Shures a while before I joined Head-Fi so mebbe I'm not Lindrones bitch after all

Weired thing.. the E5's sound downright sucky coming out of my CD player on 2 different amps. Not sure what that's all about. The Ety's and Senn's sound great and the Shures sound great through my Karma and the Karma/amp's. There seems to be some really bad mis-match going on. It's like all the dynamics and range vanish. They sound like listening through a 2" pipe!

Anyone else had anything even remotely similar to this happen? I'd like to pin down what the hell's happening.

 

[wilfredt]

Quote:

Originally posted by smeggy Well I am pleased to say that I did own my Shures a while before I joined Head-Fi so mebbe I'm not Lindrones bitch after all Weired thing.. the E5's sound downright sucky coming out of my CD player on 2 different amps. Not sure what that's all about. The Ety's and Senn's sound great and the Shures sound great through my Karma and the Karma/amp's. There seems to be some really bad mis-match going on. It's like all the dynamics and range vanish. They sound like listening through a 2" pipe! Anyone else had anything even remotely similar to this happen? I'd like to pin down what the hell's happening.

I am the second one. My e5c simply doesn't match with my Yamaha RX-V2400. iPod drives my e5c much better than this amp. However, the amp can drive my A900 & SR225 very well.

 

[cmascatello]

My E5s suck when driven from a 3G iPod through a SuperMini (V6) but sound great when coming through Xin's SuperDual prototype. Go figure. I like the headphone out with the E5 better than the line-out -> Mini combo.

 

[smeggy]

Strangerer and strangerer. I've never heard of anything like this before on any set of can's I've ever had (and I've had lot's of them). So what is it with the E5's that make them such an awkward drive. ALso might explain some of the strong anti-E5 reactions abounding. Had I not had my Karma or Echo Indigo and just this CDP and Amp I would have said they were complete sh1t and sent them back immediately.

This definately needs further investigation and maybe even a survey. This is really quite an important issue for a $500 'phone.

 

[cmascatello]

Their sensitivity and design draws out the flaws in bad sources as far as I can tell. I have heard them sound like 3 bags of ass from PCDPs and I have heard them through my XP-7 from a 555ES SACD that would make you drop to your knees and piss your pants. But they are a weird mix at times.

 

[lindrone]

The strangest thing about the E5c, has to do with its decision to make a super-high-sensitivity earphone with a high impedance. The combination of those two factors exhibit really, really strange behaviors driven from different situations.

Not sure about the design philosophy behind it...

 

[zeplin]

one thing is for sure, my next headphone purchase will either be between the e5c's or the CD3000's. even though i still prefer the ety sound, i still found the e5c's very impressive...their enhanced bass would be ideal for on the road conditions.

iamdone,
it looks as if we have very similar tastes in sound. i agree 100% about the 650/Zu combo having the nearly identical presentation of details as the ety's do. it is like they both have this special realistic sparkle on top...something i notice when i go to symphonies or listen to any instrument live. for now(or as far as headphones go), it looks as if you are done searching

 

[iamdone]

Yeah, I'm still planning on returning them but I'm going to give them another test in a moment. I was just listening to Pink Floyd's Animals on the bus to work and was really enjoying the guitars and vocals with my etys. There's a great crispness and clarity with these headphones. I'm noticing it even more since listening to the shures.

I'll try some Tool and Soundgarden and see what I think. These should sound better with the shures because of impact but I did listen to Soundgarden yesterday and thought the vocals sounded funny. The vocals are what's bothering me everytime.

 

[iamdone]

Well I just finished my new little test. Pink Floyd doesn't sound nearly as good on the shures as they do on the etys. The shures have what I'd call a rounded sound. Everything seems smoothed over and doesn't have any kind of edge. It's like there's some kind of filter blocking the music first. I've seem the term smooth used to describe these and I agree but in a negative sense.

Tool sounds much better but just still not quite right but I could somewhat enjoy it. For some reason, I didn't enjoy Soundgarden at all. The vocals are just too far recessed.

Basically I can enjoy something like Tool on the etys but think, wow these are going to sound great on the hd650/zu. If I didn't have these headphones, I might be more willing to sacrafice the highs in the shures just to have something to give me impact when I needed it. Having both headphones, the shures just make me think something doesn't sound quite right. Plus they cost too much to settle on sound. I can see why people are now looking for the perfect canalphone. Neither the etys nor the shures are close to perfect.

 

[iamdone]

Wow, I just did something that I don't really think you should do with the ipod, adjust the eq. I just tried the treble booster and now Soundgarden sounds pretty damn good. I might see what the vocal booster does as well.

I guess I'll take these to lunch as see what I think. Something about using the eq bothers me but if it works, it works.

I just tried the vocal booster and it's horrible but the treble booster seems to do the trick. A nice blend of the etys crispness with the increase bass impact.

 

[smeggy]

Nothing wrong with equalisation, I don't know why people get such a flea up the ass about it like it's some sort of anti-audiophile thing. Used with moderation it's a very useful tool.

 

[rextrade]

There's nothing wrong with eq. I think people have a problem with it because it's often poorly used. But, even the best sound systems may have limitations on certain recordings, and some recording just weren't engineered particularly well--eq can tweak this. I would love it if my ipod had a programmable eq, or, at least, if I could cut the level of the eq so it didn't distort.