I have not had the good luck of you guys of listening to the hd650 or even owning the things. I will someday, but my eyes are on the CD3000 atm.
My ears just tell me that the er4s sounds right and if I need to boost the bass, then it is an easy task. Some headphones are practically un-eq-able...no matter how much you try, they do not sound good.
My first impression with the E5 was...wow...I like it, but then I started realizing how it lacked in good sound compared to the etys.
Originally posted by wilfredt I also wonder why many ety lovers there don't like e5c for the first place. I guess they haven't spent the time to choose the right tips for their ears, or put them on in the wrong way. But I do admit ety does have more detail than shure does.
The difference between what sounds like "music" and what sounds like "notes" to me... ER-4 sounds like notes, where E5c sounds like music...
it is amazing how there can be such diverse perceptions in the way we all hear sound. i guess that is good seeing as how there are so many different options out there for us to choose from...even in the headphone world
Originally posted by wilfredt iamdone, please spend some more time with your e5, and before anything else, take some time to burn in.
My initial experience with e5c is very bad, it simply sounds worse than any of the my stock earbuds, and I feel like listening to radio.
It takes me at least 2 weeks to learn what's wrong : wrong tip, wrong way to put it into my ear, and too early to make a conclusion before burn in.
I also wonder why many ety lovers there don't like e5c for the first place. I guess they haven't spent the time to choose the right tips for their ears, or put them on in the wrong way. But I do admit ety does have more detail than shure does.
I tried them with every tip including the actual etys foamies and they sound the way they did when I heard lindrone's last week. That means the it has nothing to do with burn-in if lindrone's sounded the same and probably had hundreds of hours on them. It's like the highs cut out too early. I don't think I'm a detail freak but the shures are not doing it for me. I know the etys aren't perfect but it least they sound right and the bass can be adjusted.
I am also using a PPA with a diamond buffer and since I put that buffer in I could hear a great sparkle with the hd650 and the etys but it's not even close with the shures. I also noticed this last week but still decided to buy anyway. I now know I made a mistake.
If you own the hd650 with Zu cable, I cannot see how you'd choose the shure over the etys. Maybe Grado user might. Lindrone also say your preference might be set by which one you hear first but I see a lot of ety user switching over anyway.
Originally posted by iamdone I tried them with every tip including the actual etys foamies and they sound the way they did when I heard lindrone's last week. That means the it has nothing to do with burn-in if lindrone's sounded the same and probably had hundreds of hours on them. It's like the highs cut out too early. I don't think I'm a detail freak but the shures are not doing it for me. I know the etys aren't perfect but it least they sound right and the bass can be adjusted.
I am also using a PPA with a diamond buffer and when I put that buffer in I could hear a great sparkle with the hd650 and the etys but it's not even closed with the shures. I also noticed this last week but still decided to buy anyway. I now know I made a mistake.
If you own the hd650 with Zu cable, I cannot see how you'd choose the shure over the etys. Maybe Grado user might. Lindrone also say your preference might be set by which one you hear first but I see a lot of ety user switching over anyway.
Then if that is the case, it's probably a matter of personal preference. And I am one of them who turns from ety to shure, and be very satisfied with it, oh well, after at least 2 weeks purchasing it. It really does take time to get used to shure, espeically for ety owners.
And I myself is also one of those guys who prefer Grado to Senn.
I'm with wilfret and lindrone, the Shure's sound a lot more natural to me, more like people singing and instruments playing in real life. I do miss the Ety's ability to define acoutic space in the highs, but I don't miss their sibilance or thin bass. I doubt I will every buy a pair of 4s' again, to my ears, they are the ones that didn't sound natural. Perhaps a pair of ultimate ears are in my future as they seem to combine the strengths of both the Ety's and the Shure's.
To me the hd650/zu sound perfect. I don't find anything wrong with them. The etys seem to capture hd650's upper frenquencies quite well. They sound a little harsh without an amp, but with my setup, they're very smooth and sparkly.
The main problem I"m having with the shures is the vocals. If they don't sound right, it doesn't matter about the rest of the sound. I'll give them a try with some jazz and classical and see what I think but I listen to mostly alternative music that does contain a lot of vocals.
I had the same problem with vocals when I was still using lossy encoding. I thought AAC sounded better than mp3 in everyway but the vocals. They seemed to be slightly moved forward compared to the original recording.
Anyway, I'll see what my return policy is and keep them as long as I can before I need to return them in case I change my mind. I'll also have my girlfriend listen to them and see what she thinks. It could be an expensive gift and then I still have access to them. I'm still leaning towards returning them.
Originally posted by iamdone To me the hd650/zu sound perfect. I don't find anything wrong with them. The etys seem to capture hd650's upper frenquencies quite well. They sound a little harsh without an amp, but with my setup, they're very smooth and sparkly.
The main problem I"m having with the shures is the vocals. If they don't sound right, it doesn't matter about the rest of the sound. I'll give them a try with some jazz and classical and see what I think but I listen to mostly alternative music that does contain a lot of vocals.
I had the same problem with vocals when I was still using lossy encoding. I thought AAC sounded better than mp3 in everyway but the vocals. They seemed to be slightly moved forward compared to the original recording.
Anyway, I'll see what my return policy is and keep them as long as I can before I need to return them in case I change my mind. I'll also have my girlfriend listen to them and see what she thinks. It could be an expensive gift and then I still have access to them. I'm still leaning towards returning them.
I am now wondering if the Westone UM2 will provide good sound even with two drivers and a crossover. I suspect that the reason vocals do not sound right is because that's where the crossover point sits, but I have no proof and I am probably talking out of my buttcrack. If the two drivers are not exactly aligned in time at the crossover frequency the audio will become distorted and this can get more accentuated if the slope is mild. Maybe shure can shed some light on this issue.
I am going to try the Westone UM2...I hope it is good, but to tell you the truth, I am pretty happy with my ER4S.
Crap, I got them from microphone solutions and they have 15% restocking fee. I just tried them again and really don't enjoy them at all. I can't even listen to one song without thinking how much better the etys sound. It's like someone turned the treble on the eq all the way down. I just check my ipod setting to make sure the eq was off.
I also don't like the way the go behind the back since most of my listening is at work. It just seems they were completely designed for an on stage musician but they're also trying to also market them to headphone consumers. The only thing I like better is that they're almost flush with you ear so you could lay on your side without them go into deep.
I'm going to try shures yellow foamies on the etys to see if I like it. Maybe some good will come of all this. It does make me appreciate what I already have and really makes you think twice about future upgrades.
Originally posted by DJGeorgeT I am now wondering if the Westone UM2 will provide good sound even with two drivers and a crossover. I suspect that the reason vocals do not sound right is because that's where the crossover point sits, but I have no proof and I am probably talking out of my buttcrack. If the two drivers are not exactly aligned in time at the crossover frequency the audio will become distorted and this can get more accentuated if the slope is mild. Maybe shure can shed some light on this issue.
I thought that might be a cause for particular things I didn't like about E5c's sound signature (although I still prefer it over ER-4, I do agree with iamdone's observation that sometimes vocals could be recessed)...
However, proved not to be the case, since 2X-S employs the same design, but it doesn't have that problem. I'm assuming you're talking about the crossover "unit" that's in-line, correct?
You could also be talking about the physical driver location inside the casing, but I don't think that would be a cause for problem either.
I think most likely, is that E5c was designed with sources like iPod in mind (flat output, and light on bass. That in combination with a lot of pop & hip-hop albums that all are produced with heavy bass.. probably combines for a boosted bass and veiled vocal. I noticed especially on hip-hop albums, a lot of the bass is just enormous... probably tuned for your typical consumer perspective anyway.
I also just tried the yellow foamies and they didn't seem to do much for me. It may have been worse because of less isolation and it's easier for the filters to get clogged.
The ety foamies on the shures didn't work good for me either because it causes the drivers to sick out taking away the only thing I liked about them.
It seems like I don't like what I lot a people around seem to like. Maybe I'm the exception.
I don't think I could ever buy a headphone that I couldn't return without hearing it first. So even if I wanted to get highend canaphones, I wouldn't know who's opinion to listen to but I think my taste differ enough from lindrone's based on the shures, that I might have to discard it. So if you agree with lindrone about the shures, I'd say to discard anything I've said as well.
edit: Maybe don't just discard but take in context.
Originally posted by Tyson I'm with wilfret and lindrone, the Shure's sound a lot more natural to me, more like people singing and instruments playing in real life. I do miss the Ety's ability to define acoutic space in the highs, but I don't miss their sibilance or thin bass. I doubt I will every buy a pair of 4s' again, to my ears, they are the ones that didn't sound natural. Perhaps a pair of ultimate ears are in my future as they seem to combine the strengths of both the Ety's and the Shure's.
Tyson:
You may want to investigate the Ultimate Ears earphones. I share your findings of the ER-4P/S earphones but choose to remain reticent at this time. I also have a heck of a lot of assignments that require my time. I can't comment whether Ultimate Ears combine the strengths of SHURE earphones but I can say that your inference that UE earphones build upon the strengths of the ER-4P/S while staying far away from the drawbacks of its aged design are correct. The ER-4P/S, while being the most popular earphone, are beginning to show its age in a new market full of attractive options for the canalphone lover.
Originally posted by Factor Then you probably missed this album, which is one of the best rock albums of the last 20 years.
Dismissing hardcore in general is acceptable, because the great majority of it is horribly inaccessible to anyone who's not specifically devoted to the hardcore scene. But don't dismiss Fugazi. Being a music fan and missing out on Repeater is like being a food connoissieur and missing out on garlic.
I agree.
Got my E5's yesterday and the first CD I popped in was Fugazi's "The Argument". Even from a crappy PCDP, it was amazing. The detail and clarity were top notch, while maintaining the smoothness Toaster22 is fond of mentioning.
Definitely the canalphone for a Grado fan like me.
i am done allowing other people to influence my opinions. i really wanna spread this message of how sad it is how impressionable i have been the last few days, and how impressionable we all are so often. it's just sad. (don't get me wrong here, head-fi is one of the best sites on the net, and sharing views is great, but reading the reviews and feeling sorry for ourselves cause we can't write them ourselves is just pitiful.) - don't even think about giving me that look like you don't know what i am talking about here...
i own 500 dollar canalphones that i think are perfect.
i will not let anyone tell me otherwise. welly wu likes HIS (my apologies) 900 dollar ue's, sweet. lindrone likes his 750 dollar prophonics, super cool.
i like my e5c's. - they are god-like.
we all have our own opinions and once you start to impress yours on other people to make yourself feel better, it's not cool. it's really not. i have been guilty of this the last few days. and welly and lindrone may end up teetering on the edge of acting this way as well in the days to come, but hopefully not...
none of my impressions have been fake about the e5c's, if anything i underestimate in words how much i friggin' love these things.
as the ue's and the sensas stuff unfolds and you guys all duke it out in a bustilng dustball, i'll be rockin to the best sound i've ever heard, anytime, anywhere. i know i have the callest ipod headphones at college. and i don't care what anyones thinks about it.
we're all allowed to find our own happy place. have you found yours?
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