[dleblanc343]

Quote:

 
So you would suggest UEs or the Sony's over the AKG in that they would have cleaner sound? Sony ones should be readily available for audtioning at the local Sony centre but still can't compare it to the AKGs.. The 1RNC looks great even though I've been a great fan of AKG's styling (and not much of a fan of Sennheiser's look..)
 
My budget is a bit flexible at the moment in the sense that the K490NC would be in the more affordable bracket and the K495NC being in the upper bracket. The K550 should be within the upper bracket, while the QC15s are inbetween the K490 and K495 prices so can definitely be considered. I have read about the QC15s to be very good. But they're around 4 years old now? Has things changed over this time? Also I've read they don't work without battery.. which makes them rather peculiar since I don't think I'd use the NC function for vast majority of the time so needing to charge up just to use them on a normal daily basis might unnecessarily drain the battery life quickly. I note the AKGs are built in USB charging.. which might also be a problem for battery life if I rarely ever cycle the battery charges. But so in your view the Bose would outperform both AKG models in their best state (either NC on or off)? 
So it might come down to deciding between the K550 and NC sets such as 490NC or the MDR-1RNC? Not sure which I'd be more happy with 

 
 
Thanks for pointing me to the HK thread. I've tried one store on the list (Mingo) and they said they don't have the K490/495 for auditioning. I've also walked around some of the smaller malls in MK.. appears like not many people know about the AKG NCs. One of the larger stores even said they didn't sell them.. only for me to see the K495s on display when I was exiting.

 Mingo used to have pretty much the whole range of AKGs for auditioning when I went around 1 or 1.5 year ago but when I went approx a month ago they've moved the store layout around and no longer had that little section for amps and AKGs. 

 I might try out some of the other stores on the list. Are you located in HK? 

As a salesperson in a Hi-Fi shop selling all of the mentioned headphones; my ultimate advice is to give them all a try before buying.
 
If you ask me, the QC15 is possibly the best noise-canceller, at the expense of being the worst sounding headphone. Definitely a no on my part.
 
The AKG's, particularly the 495NC's, are very classy looking and well-made/robust. Both it and the lower 490NC don't have the typical AKG house sound, but still remain in better balance than many headphones. They're a colored/ fun sounding AKG with a bit more midbass presencethan neutral. There is no noticeable hiss or hum when noise-cancelling is on, but it does make the sound a tad bit warmer. I'd compare the 495NC's sound a lot to the Bower and Wilkins P5; but you get a better overall package. 2 year warranty also makes the AKG my choice between the 4 brands.
 
The Sony's are beautiful and robust as well and very comfortable too. They are more mid-forward sounding but sometimes unpleasant near 2-4 khz. I was disappointed with the NC version as the noise cancelling does affect the SQ and for that, I would recommend the standard MDR-1R. At 400$ it's not the best purchase.
 
As for the UE9000, it's probably the better sounding choice, but I find the headphone appalling to look at personally. It's also a finger print magnet and very bulky. It has the most features, which is fun if you do like the idea of wireless, but I must advise you that the blutooth functionality is terrible (with my Iphone 5 and previous SGSIII). It will drop out and necessitate a reconnect a frustratingly high amount of times. Also, you cannot listen in passive mode while on wireless, but you can listen passively when wired... 
 
That's my take personally; however, it should be you who decides what's best for you. The biggest seller for me is the Bose, but I usually don't argue if a customer wants Bose and is not open to other brands. My second best sellers are the 495NC's, but most of the customers are over the age of 20. Most people around my age and under 20 will get the Ulitmate Ears line (if they're not getting Beats/Monster/Bose); but it's not a great seller either. Unfortunately, the Sony's are not very popular here.

 

[Music Guy123]

Quote:

 
Durable, ~30, isolates, balance - Almost sounded like the Brainwavz M2/E30 until you mentioned the price. Other than that, would give the PL30 a look as it slots within the budget for the most part (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Soundmagic-PL30-SoundMAGIC-Earphones-Black/dp/B0030ZERIS/ref=pd_cp_ce_1), although the cable, as with the E30s, are on the thin side and the strain relief's aren't as good. Otherwise the shells are rather solid. A thinner note presentation than the E30s but otherwise similar in sig. If durability is key, would look at the Dunu Tridents as well - I've given plenty of friend I know to be rough on stuff these as gifts and they seem to hold up very nicely. Although the sound is nowhere near as balanced or as nice as with the Soundmagic/Brainwavz.
 
At this pricing, most mainstream Senn offerings are rather paltry and not at all noteworthy.

Hi, Thank you ever so much for your wonderful help and reply, it is very much appreciated!
 
 
The M2s look perfect, but unfortunately they are about twice my budget ! As for the E30s, same thing price wise. The PL30s are still a bit on the expensive side unfortunately. Also, I'd like standard straight down IEMs rather than the ones that go around the ears please (sorry for being fussy, but it's just my preference!).
 
As for the Dunu Tridents, I'm rather taken by these, I can get them for £20 in the uk which is alright, I'd preferably spend less but I can cope, apparently they are rather tough which is what I need and they don't seem to be bad sounding! I'll think about it but if you have any other recommendations I should look at I'd be more than interested!!
 
All the best, and thanks once again.

 

[hatecrew1992]

Quote:

At this pricing, well even if there was performance gains I'd doubt that they;d have the tonality that the UE900s do. For example, the V3 demo I heard had similarly aggression within each note, but didn't share the same forgiving upper mids and was much warmer. So at this point I would be hesitant, to say the least.

OK thanks. I hope I can get my hands on a pair of the UE900 for trying

 

[Sabres96]

Hi Headfi'ers

I am somewhat new to the site and I am looking for some advice on my next purchase. Currently I listen to all kinds of music including rock, country, alternative, hip-hop. I am essentially looking for IEMs under $150 that have good separation of instruments and a large soundstage.
After reading many reviews I think that the shure se215 are the best value. The one thing I like about the headphones is the removable cable. That said, I am open to any suggestions any of you may have. I am also in the market for a portable amp to go with the IEM in the $100 price range. Thanks in advance.

 

[JMACK45]

Thanks to those that responded to my earlier post http://www.head-fi.org/forums/posts/edit/post_id/9368393. I'm going to take the advice and look into new IEMs vs a portable amp. I'll do some research and probably come back for some advice when I narrow it down. If anyone has suggestions based on my previous post let me know. Just wanted to say thanks and I appreciate this community.

 

[NineWest]

I've been using a pair of Sennheiser CX 485's that I've had since last year and have liked them a lot. I have small ear canals and these have never bothered my ears like some others have even with small tips.  The sound through them has always seemed pretty good too. I see they are discontinued now though and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for similar replacements. I'm only looking to spend about $25 so I'm not expecting a lot but any recommendations from people who know more then me about these things would be greatly appreciated. There are so many options out there that it gets confusing. 

 

[lurifix]

Greetings Headi-fi Community! Ive been lurking around for awhile and now im in the process of rebooting my portable soundsystem for commuting to work etc,
I have been looking at grabbing a Colorfly c3 or a cowon c2 player for a nice starting point. As for amps im looking at the c&c BH or a FiiO e11 most likely the c&c. Now my main problem arrives when im staring down the list of IEM's to go with this new shiny system.
Examing my music list I grow weary as its very varied, reaching from alot of Industrial, electro, metal, some rock,punk etc sadly I listen to alot of diffrent music.
However ive narrowed it down to a few models and would really appreciate some help choosing betwen them.
Im currently looking at
J-phonic K2 sp
Hifiman 272
Westone um3x
Shure se535
Gr07
Alclair Reference
Any feedback is appreciated <3
 
Edit: I just realised I should have put in a budget number. im willing to go to about 500 USD for the headphones

 

[TwinQY]

Quote:

Hi Headfi'ers

I am somewhat new to the site and I am looking for some advice on my next purchase. Currently I listen to all kinds of music including rock, country, alternative, hip-hop. I am essentially looking for IEMs under $150 that have good separation of instruments and a large soundstage.
After reading many reviews I think that the shure se215 are the best value. The one thing I like about the headphones is the removable cable. That said, I am open to any suggestions any of you may have. I am also in the market for a portable amp to go with the IEM in the $100 price range. Thanks in advance.

All rounder, separation, large stage, <$150 - Honestly have no idea why you would pick out the SE215 of all things. If the removable cable is just a neat factor and not key in the decision, you should really factor in the rather average-sized stage of the Shures, along with their rather hefty bass weight that doesn't really help with perceived technicalities. If you could stretch the budget, the GR07s do all-round, have plenty of soundstaging (above average in size though not jarring), separation and dynamics are top notch for the price. Similarly, the BA200s have great stage width and separation, also happens to be a good all-rounder.
 
Sadly I've realized that I've been recommending those too far too often lately, so could take with a grain of salt. However, would highly advise against the Shures in this case and this case alone, as there are plenty of others that do better for your criteria. And of course unless incremental upgrades in sound is the reasoning behind getting an amp and not because of a lack of power (again, these are IEMs), or to circumvent onboard circuitry, would advise against spending unnecessary money as well.
 

I've been using a pair of Sennheiser CX 485's that I've had since last year and have liked them a lot. I have small ear canals and these have never bothered my ears like some others have even with small tips.  The sound through them has always seemed pretty good too. I see they are discontinued now though and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for similar replacements. I'm only looking to spend about $25 so I'm not expecting a lot but any recommendations from people who know more then me about these things would be greatly appreciated. There are so many options out there that it gets confusing. 

You've not given a lot to go by. Stating sound preferences, genre preferences, preferences in terms of comfort (assuming you'll want small-ish nozzles), build, and isolation would also be helpful. Just so it makes it easier for us, otherwise we'd be shooting in the dark with, again, nothing to go by.
 
I'll get around to making a template for recs later. For now, anyone else reading just keep this in mind.
 
Quote:

Greetings Headi-fi Community! Ive been lurking around for awhile and now im in the process of rebooting my portable soundsystem for commuting to work etc,
I have been looking at grabbing a Colorfly c3 or a cowon c2 player for a nice starting point. As for amps im looking at the c&c BH or a FiiO e11 most likely the c&c. Now my main problem arrives when im staring down the list of IEM's to go with this new shiny system.
Examing my music list I grow weary as its very varied, reaching from alot of Industrial, electro, metal, some rock,punk etc sadly I listen to alot of diffrent music.
However ive narrowed it down to a few models and would really appreciate some help choosing betwen them.
Im currently looking at
J-phonic K2 sp
Hifiman 272
Westone um3x
Shure se535
Gr07
Alclair Reference
Any feedback is appreciated <3
 
Edit: I just realised I should have put in a budget number. im willing to go to about 500 USD for the headphones

Genres are helpful, but stating sound preferences, preferences in terms of comfort, build, and isolation (unless those are not at all important for you in this case), would be immensely more helpful. We do all enjoy our genres presented differently of course.
 
And there really is no need to limit yourself to the choices ljokerl provides in his review, although it is a good starting point.

 

[MrViolin]

So guys, what would you recommend that's close to the sig of the ex1000?

 

[TwinQY]

Updated - post #3895

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Quote:

So guys, what would you recommend that's close to the sig of the ex1000?

Not sure if you're wanting an IEM or a full-sized in this case, nor has the budget been stated (there are plenty of V-shapes already so anything to help narrow down the choices would be helpful).
 
Full-sized-wise - similarly tonal balance is difficult as nothing really emulates its upper-mids curve, nor the staging size/shape. 
IEM-wise - obvious ones would be the EX600 and the 7550. Couple of others would be the CK100PRO (less dynamic, bass quantity, texture, not to mention the stage size, but struck me as similar - comparatively - as the top end seemed reminiscent). PFE232s share a similar sig but lack the body, texture and the roundedness of note. Also quite a bit smoother.
 
But yes, the EX series seems to be rather unique and you'll be hard pressed to find something similar elsewhere.

 

[MrViolin]

Quote:

Updated - post #3895

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Not sure if you're wanting an IEM or a full-sized in this case, nor has the budget been stated (there are plenty of V-shapes already so anything to help narrow down the choices would be helpful).
 
Full-sized-wise - similarly tonal balance is difficult as nothing really emulates its upper-mids curve, nor the staging size/shape. 
IEM-wise - obvious ones would be the EX600 and the 7550. Couple of others would be the CK100PRO (less dynamic, bass quantity, texture, not to mention the stage size, but struck me as similar - comparatively - as the top end seemed reminiscent). PFE232s share a similar sig but lack the body, texture and the roundedness of note. Also quite a bit smoother.
 
But yes, the EX series seems to be rather unique and you'll be hard pressed to find something similar elsewhere.

thanks TwinQY

 

[Tehol]

So not an advocate of amps for IEMs, TwinQY?  I was wondering if there was much of a point since they don't seem to need the power but some folks swear by them.   I still might pick up a portable like the e11 or e12 for my Beyer phones and play around with them on my e-q5 and I am also thinking of checking out a set of the BA/dynamic hybrids like the T-Peos H-200 (when they come out) or the FXZ200.  I'll skip either of those if the bass is thick enough to wash out mids.  I'm not a huge V shape fan in general and the FR graph that T-Peos is claiming to be true for the H200 has my interest.

 

[waynes world]

^ Consider the ath cks1000. Coming from the vsonic gr07be's, I am pretty freaked out about these things. I am finding also that freakishly good iems like the 1k's respond very well to amping. I love how they sound through either the E12 or the C&C BH (depending on the source).

 

[lurifix]

Ah true Twin, Isolation and comfort would be the 2 big things im looking for since I go by train or bus, and would like to keep the noise away from my music.
As far as sound im looking for fairly crisp sound but still keeping a nice enough bass  to keep my industrial music  going, maybe thats sorted nice enough by the amp tough :/
 
I currently mainly listen to music on my Pc with Audio Technica ATH-AD700 and find the sound in these nice enough with my essence soundcard and wouldent mind a similar sound either

[size=1.7em]  [/size]

 

[TwinQY]

Quote:

So not an advocate of amps for IEMs, TwinQY?  I was wondering if there was much of a point since they don't seem to need the power but some folks swear by them.   I still might pick up a portable like the e11 or e12 for my Beyer phones and play around with them on my e-q5 and I am also thinking of checking out a set of the BA/dynamic hybrids like the T-Peos H-200 (when they come out) or the FXZ200.  I'll skip either of those if the bass is thick enough to wash out mids.  I'm not a huge V shape fan in general and the FR graph that T-Peos is claiming to be true for the H200 has my interest.

It becomes less of a "need" thing (as if there's really a necessity within this hobby - it's what you make of it) and more of a "want" thing. As in the want for different sigs. At some point the fine line between usability and incremental improvements get blurred.
 
It's absolutely fine if people want to get into it as it's their prerogative/preference. But it's absolutely not fine to make it out as anything other than personal preference. Rumors of audio nirvana from a $500 magic box are greatly exaggerated.
 
I've personally had enough portable amps to not care enough where I'm at the point where I've only kept an E5 and a E11. And the latter really sucks. They all really suck. Value is a moot point but the only ones I've heard as of recent that can be justified in terms of practicality and feature sets, are, guess what, the C5s and the UHA-6S MKIIs. 
 
So when people come to me to ask for amp recs I show them the door as I can't wholeheartedly put a recommendation into something I don't believe in anymore. 
 
That being said the bass on the FXZ200s are almost heavy enough to wash out the mids
 
Quote:

^ Consider the ath cks1000. Coming from the vsonic gr07be's, I am pretty freaked out about these things. I am finding also that freakishly good iems like the 1k's respond very well to amping. I love how they sound through either the E12 or the C&C BH (depending on the source).

I've followed the preamble on the CKS1000 thread with the graphs and the ink and the bok choi and the burning flames of purgatory. Just me stating an opinion but I'm inclined to side with the graphs at this point. No I'm not making them out as an absolute, merely a reference point. But the FR curve, in this case, correlates nicely with what I've heard out of the 1000s. Not that that's bad. They are stupendously textured and powerfully fun IEMs. So I look at it all in a positive light. And of course spectral decay, THD, haven't been brought out yet. So it's too early to say anything yet as it is.
 
Again, just an opinion amongst the sea of arseholes.
 
Quote:

Ah true Twin, Isolation and comfort would be the 2 big things im looking for since I go by train or bus, and would like to keep the noise away from my music.
As far as sound im looking for fairly crisp sound but still keeping a nice enough bass  to keep my industrial music  going, maybe thats sorted nice enough by the amp tough :/
 
I currently mainly listen to music on my Pc with Audio Technica ATH-AD700 and find the sound in these nice enough with my essence soundcard and wouldent mind a similar sound either

Crisp, decent low-end presence, AD700-reminiscent (keep in mind that I'm on the AD700-is-horribly-anemic side of the argument so take my reference point with a grain of salt) - well...
 
I'd think twice against anything in your choices other than maybe the K2 (which I haven't heard, only going by general impressions by others at this point). The 272s are too rounded of note to be considered crisp, UM3Xs are aggressive in the warm and powerful sort of sense, GR07s have the dynamics and edge on each not but they'd probably end up too bassy, the SE535s are extremely dull of note in comparison and just too mid-forward from what I'm assuming you're wanting. And have not heard the Alclairs.
 
Have you looked at the UE900s yet? Very crisp, bass presence is there and very linear and clean. Seems to mess well with your criteria, but with way more extension than the AD700s.