Hi all!
Recently I had the unfortunate mishap of losing my Shure SE420 earphones on a plane flight back from a music school audition, and am in the market for a replacement. At the time I got the SE420s because I didn't quite have the budget to go for Shure's (at the time) best IEMs, but I ended up being really pleased with how the SE420s sounded. However, now I'm looking for an upgrade from the Shure IEMs, and am wondering what advice you all have for me. I primarily listen to classical music, but my library has significant jazz and rock, as well as even some metal, choral, theatre, and more. Basically, what I need are IEMs that perform well in all genres, but particularly in classical music.
My tastes generally are that I prefer bass which is good, but not overpowering. Especially in classical music, the bass needs to be there (timpani, tuba, double bass, etc) but it can't get in the way of the treble (woodwinds, trumpets, strings, etc.) so the bass is secondary, for me, to the treble. But both definitely need to be there. The Shure SE420s had okay bass, but in the lower range it definitely suffered in comparison to higher quality IEMs I have seen reviewed and that I have tested via friends. Something with stronger bass, but similarly high quality treble, would be awesome.
Outside of sound quality, I was really happy with the way Shure handled customer support. I only had to send in the SE420s once, after about two years, for some minor issues and Shure handled the process swiftly and with no cost to me. The comfort of the SE420s, also, was quite good. And their performance stayed consistent (except for the one time I had to send them in) for about three years with little to no major problems as long as I kept them maintained well. That's a major factor for me, because I don't want to spend $500+ on IEMs only to have them fall apart in a year.
As for my budget, I'd really prefer to stay under $500, which I guess still gives me a lot of great opportunities. I've heard great things about the UE TripleFi10s, Etymotic ER-4, and some other universals. Good customs in that range I've heard are 1964EARS 1964-T and Clear Tune Monitors CTM-200. Thoughts on these for someone listening mainly to classical music, but who needs good overall performance for any genre? Also, how significant is the benefit of customs versus universals? Customs obviously are a more significant investment, and I'd be stuck with them, so I'm sometimes hesitant to put down that much money if I'm not sure I'll love them. But the benefits seem impressive.
Also, with these sorts of IEMs, would there be any need for a portable amp, and if so, what are your recommendations? I just ran my SE420s off a standard MP3 player and they were fine. I'm completely uninformed about whether one would need a portable amp for higher quality IEMs, and, if so, where to start. Similarly, I mainly have been listening to my cheap replacement earbuds (since I lost my SE420s) using my iPod, but is there any need to find a music player specifically for audiophiles if I want the best listening experience possible? Like I said, I'm going into music performance, so I need good audio quality. It matters being able to hear whether the timpani player used chamois or felt sticks, that sort of thing. But on the other hand, I'm not going into sound engineering, so I'm not going to spend $1000+.
Sorry for this post being so long. Any and all advice is appreciated. Thanks for helping out a newbie!
