[VR6ofpain]

So they sound 'good', but are the competative for $100? I mean you can get a lot of headphone for that price.

 

[Flavio T]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sordel I don't think that there was a clear attempt to mislead, although certainly people have found the name to be misleading. (That said, I don't suppose that anyone on these forums buys a headphone on the basis of their interpretation of the product name!) IE seems to be a fair designation for an earbud given that Bose don't make any other headphone that fits anything like that, and the silicone sleeves are indeed projected into the ear. Whether they are "not different than any other Sony or Sennheiser earbuds" I would find it difficult to judge, not having heard them, but that seems a bit like saying that an 880 is no different from an HD 650 ... just because their morphology is (very superficially) similar, doesn't mean that they are not completely different beasts. I note the point about the v-moda though. Will Earphone Solutions be stocking this as an audiophile product then?

Hi Sordel,

Yes. After testing them I was very surprised to get that kind of sound at that price point. I liked the sound a lot.

 

[Flavio T]

Quote:

Originally Posted by atx I'm sorry but as I read your review of the Bose IE, I've always thought it was in your best interest NOT to like them (i.e. people would rather pick them up from a local retail outlet with return convenience than pay shipping from your shop), so I take your statement with a very large grain of salt, especially now that you're promoting the V-moda in the Bose thread.

atx,

Our best interest is to remain true to our tastings as that has been, I think, one of the reasons for our success, as we are a very small company and cannot rely on heavy marketing. Lies are very short lived. If we don't like it, we will not recommend it and we will not stock it. Simple. We want for our customers what we would want for ourselves. We are not a 50,000 sku catalog internet company. This is all we do. Everyone here has 6-10 earphones laying around their desks. That is not to say that someone will like them. That's perfectly legit. But our inventory mix is based on straight forward testings, altough very subjective, as that has to do with our personal taste. And we always disclose that.

As for the "retail convenience", Apple, Best Buy, CompUSA and Circuit City stock and sell Shure and Ultimate Ears. There many more of those than Bose stores. We really wanted to start selling these Bose "ies" because Bose invest very heavy in marketing and there would be a great exposure, so business wise it could make sense to start with, but my thinking goes more towards what our customers will enjoy and I didn't find it in those earbuds. As for the shipping, we offer free shipping on all those and the Bose would fall under that (free shipping on orders above $98).

Like I said previously, just try them against the others.

 

[Flavio T]

Quote:

Originally Posted by VR6ofpain So they sound 'good', but are the competative for $100? I mean you can get a lot of headphone for that price.

VR6ofpain,

The vibes are scary good. We will post a review on the site but I can anticipate that its ranking will be a big surprise.

I'm so confident, that we ordered a ton of them. Pretty soon head-fiers will be posting their impressions and I'm sure people will be in awe. I was...

It still does not isolate as Westone and Shure but the sound for the price is "scary". It also does not loop around the back of the ear. Personally I prefer that design (around the back) but I know that people also like the simplicity of having the cables dropping straight down.

I was skeptical because of the cool marketing and "jewelry like" appearance but they are for real. The vibe has a big 3-d sound.

 

[swagga]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sordel Lekun, All of us who are sticking with the IEs know exactly where you're coming from ... I don't think I've read anyone who hasn't implied that they are muffled or muddy fresh out of the box, and a lot of people seem to take them back at that point. There are several of us now reporting that this effect is significantly diminished over time, however. Whether there really is a lot of detail in what I'm hearing as I type is difficult for me to check, but that annoying sense of a very reverberant, uncontrollable bass disappeared pretty much after the first few hours. Either it's burn-in (as I prefer to believe) or the brain compensated amazingly. There's no way that I would be sticking with these if they sounded as boomy as they did when I first got them ... they'd be in a drawer by now gathering dust instead of in my ears giving a nice account of Keith Jarrett's "Koln Concert".

Sordel,
Again, I agree with you 100% These things sounded very bad out of the box, which is a shame because a lot of people are going to run back to the store and return them without allowing them to burn-in. Everyday these things amaze me! The more I listen to them, the more the the bass and midrange settle in, allowing the high-end detail to come out. The sounds are starting to blend in very nicely. The bass has even tightened up on the hip-hop tracks, giving them good performance in an area where I thought they wouldn't be able to measure up. These are becoming my favorite earbuds! I cannot leave home without them. Combined with the SRS surround on my Iriver H10, live jazz perfomances sound like I'm in the front row. Very fun to listen to!

 

[The_Duke_Of_Eli]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flavio T VR6ofpain, The vibes are scary good. We will post a review on the site but I can anticipate that its ranking will be a big surprise. I'm so confident, that we ordered a ton of them. Pretty soon head-fiers will be posting their impressions and I'm sure people will be in awe. I was... It still does not isolate as Westone and Shure but the sound for the price is "scary". It also does not loop around the back of the ear. Personally I prefer that design (around the back) but I know that people also like the simplicity of having the cables dropping straight down. I was skeptical because of the cool marketing and "jewelry like" appearance but they are for real. The vibe has a big 3-d sound.

Flavio T, have you had a chance to test out the Jens D-Jays yet? I found them very very similar to the vibes and I was wondering what your impression of them was.

 

[soudlous]

Hey guys.

So yes I'm a newb to the site, but i did know about good quality audio stuff from research around , going to hi fi shops, but no expert. Im just a bit curious. So yea, that's the background.

I got these 2 days ago. Yes they should a little awkward when i bought them. But after a few hours. i would say 10 hours, it seems to be improving.

I've listened to them using the audigy 2zs, creative vision w, ipod 4th gen. They all seem to be a bit different, but better as time goes on.

So far i'll say, these don't isolate but most of the time, i tune into the music and the other noises are just passing by. I have to say, although i don't remember all the model names by heart, i have tried the sony er90? and their 71's, and the shure e2c, 34c. If you want isolation, get the shures. I didn't really want isolating. I get that whole head feeling and it bothers me. I rather like being able to hear some surroundings.

I like the tips, they come off easily, and i like how they have a bit of in-ear cups but just sit and don't go all the way in, its what I've been looking for, for a while. They clean easily. I use the medium one. I think it gives me the best balanced of highs, lows, and mids.

They are so far comfortable, more comfortable than the sonys for me. The shures also, but not by much.

Well its still early for a real good judgment so I'm going to give it about 3 more days and come back to this thread and post what i finally think.

Its a relief to see this thread. I just joined head fi, but i went ahead and bought these before reading reviews on it. Simply because my creative supplied ones were crap and these looked really comfortable, a design i was thinking about for a while, something in between isolation and just some hard plastic circle thing in my ear or that weird cushy cloth that they give, i just hate that stuff. But these have a gel type cushion that really forms my ear bowl and i like it a lot for that.

I'll be back to talk more about the sound. I think i love this site though. so many people that really care about the sound, this is really a joyous moment for me.

 

[swraman]

I just bought a pair of these, and...they dont seem to live up to expectations. I just want to know if this is how they are suposed to sound (do I have a defective product?)

There are almost no highs. The lows are extremely overpowering, with no EQ it sounds like the low and mid-low is the only thing playing. When I set my EQ (on my Zen Vision:M) to strengthen highs (+10db 13khz, +9dv 4Khz, +5db 1Khz), it gets a bit better but still doesnt sound like a normal no-eQ sound.

On my PC, I have to set a extreme EQ to get it to sound "normal". This is what I have to set it to to get it to sound "Normal", (thats normal, not extremely loud highs)

http://swraman.com/images/eq_triport_ie.jpg

These dont sound ANYTHING like my Bose Triport headset (which Ive had for a couple years). That is what I am using as "normal". With that EQ on the headset, it hurts my ears because it is so high.


Do the earbuds really soud like this? Do they sound better over time? I hope my product is just defective, id hate to see such a poor product put out by Bose.

 

[jdimitri]

Quote:

Originally Posted by swraman /img/forum/go_quote.gif I just bought a pair of these, and...they dont seem to live up to expectations. I just want to know if this is how they are suposed to sound (do I have a defective product?) There are almost no highs. The lows are extremely overpowering, with no EQ it sounds like the low and mid-low is the only thing playing. When I set my EQ (on my Zen Vision:M) to strengthen highs (+10db 13khz, +9dv 4Khz, +5db 1Khz), it gets a bit better but still doesnt sound like a normal no-eQ sound. On my PC, I have to set a extreme EQ to get it to sound "normal". This is what I have to set it to to get it to sound "Normal", (thats normal, not extremely loud highs) http://swraman.com/images/eq_triport_ie.jpg These dont sound ANYTHING like my Bose Triport headset (which Ive had for a couple years). That is what I am using as "normal". With that EQ on the headset, it hurts my ears because it is so high. Do the earbuds really soud like this? Do they sound better over time? I hope my product is just defective, id hate to see such a poor product put out by Bose.

Try different tips, they're all different sizes
When wore and positioned properly, they really shouldn't sound like that

 

[swraman]

ive tried all the different tips, they all sound the same.

It sounds like playing music through a cheap subwoofer, with no satelites. its like they forgot to put in the high frequency speakers.

Any other ideas?

 

[jdimitri]

Quote:

Originally Posted by swraman /img/forum/go_quote.gif ive tried all the different tips, they all sound the same. It sounds like playing music through a cheap subwoofer, with no satelites. its like they forgot to put in the high frequency speakers. Any other ideas?

Whoa whoa back up, if they ALL sound the same, you're doing something wrong

It has to be shoved DEEP in your ears, and i do mean much deeper than regular earbuds
It's supposed to make a seal.. try the tips again while inserting deep, you'll find that some of them are too loose or too tight

 

[Sordel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdimitri /img/forum/go_quote.gif It's supposed to make a seal.

No, if it makes a seal you get too much bass reinforcement. Bose specifically say in the instructions not to make a seal. Swraman, read through this thread from the start and you will see that complaints about poor (or non-existent) highs, experiments with EQing, etc. are all absolutely par for the course with these buds and your ies are thus highly unlikely to be defective.

The two things that you can do to improve them quickly is a) amplify them (I use a Boostaroo, and when I don't use it the sound definitely diminishes in quality) and b) leave them playing overnight for a few days so that they burn in. After that, you will definitely get your highs back and will lose the muddy bass on all but a small minority of recordings.

If you're thinking that this is more effort than you can be bothered to make, then take them back: I don't believe that they are ever going to be a perfect all-rounder, and without any amplification they are always going to keep reminding you how difficult they are to drive.

That said, these buds deliver sound experiences that are just out of the world really. I was listening to "Confessions on a Dance Floor" yesterday, and the eq effect that opens "Sorry" (from 0.15) was unbelievably good for headphones at any price. It's not just the quantity of bass (which you can hear straight out of the box) ... it's the quality of the bass with a sustained (slightly rolled off) high end. Lesser 'phones would be putting so much effort into producing low frequencies that they'd either be severely distorted at this point or they'd have given up doing anything else: the ies just keep delivering. You will not need eqing ... I used it briefly at the start but the only eqing I do now is occasional bass boost.

So, if you want to keep going, there are rewards in store. If not ... well, the v-modas sound as though they might be good and they're certainly less bother!

 

[swraman]

Ill try all those things, the different sizes resting in my ears instead of forming a seal...and Ill let them run for a few days to break them in.

If they still are like this ill exchange them next weekend...and if the ne ones are still the same...then a return

I really want to get these preforming properly, i love my Triport headset, and I thought these would at least sound similar to them...but so far its just muddy bass.

Any other sugestions...welcome.

 

[swraman]

I let them play for a long time and tried the other tips...but it still sounds bad. I guess Ill try to exchange them, and see if it makes a difference.

The only way (now) to get good preformance out of them is to use the EQ on my computer I posted above, which my MP3 player can't do (not enough presets). So, back to the shop it is.

 

[atx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by swraman /img/forum/go_quote.gif I really want to get these preforming properly, i love my Triport headset, and I thought these would at least sound similar to them...but so far its just muddy bass.

The bass takes days to settle down, not hours, and you need to burn these with loud bassy music (it took about 5 days for me to decide to keep them). The IE is actually a better performer than the Triports when it comes to the details, but for some, the high frequency rolloff may overcome whatever advantages it has.