[ChristmaSFnatic]

So Ill start at the bottom eh? So I can easily navigate as I become more like you guys?

I can get Klipsch S4i for $60 at Amazon or Monster Gold Turbines for $180 at JandR. Price difference is big but its a steal for Golds at those price eh?

 

[BotByte]

Quote:

So Ill start at the bottom eh? So I can easily navigate as I become more like you guys?

I can get Klipsch S4i for $60 at Amazon or Monster Gold Turbines for $180 at JandR. Price difference is big but its a steal for Golds at those price eh?

I wouldn't buy the Turbines from a unauthorized dealer.
Turbines have a high failure rate, coupled with a great warranty. And that warranty is voided if they are used or FAKE. Yes, they make fake ones.

 

[ChristmaSFnatic]

Yeah, I read.

But isnt JandR an authorized dealer? Many here recommends it. Funny though they got the Turbine Gold with Control Talk for $180, but the one without is $278. Given, the former is always on order.

 

[ChristmaSFnatic]

By the way, how high of a failure rate are we talking about? compared to S4i?

Sending it back to US will cost me $30... more if with the box and all.

 

[BotByte]

Quote:

By the way, how high of a failure rate are we talking about? compared to S4i?

Sending it back to US will cost me $30... more if with the box and all.

I've just heard talk on the forums.
 
I would say go with the S4 if you like them. The turbines are really nice, but I think you're too apprehensive on buying them since money is tight and all.
 
The S4, if it's the sound you want, will all that you'll need.

 

[mbamg]

Quote:

The more you move up in prices doesn't constitute a greater gain in SQ
 
More expensive equipment is either geared towards Audiophiles or sound professionals. The difference isn't drastic, but the dependable quality standard is higher.
Rough speaking: More money = More quality you can rely on. Like reference headphones.
 
As you grow in scale of pricing, the quality improves on a opposite scaling is the X 10^ concept. This means that the more you throw at a headphone, the less quality jump will occur.
 
A $100 headphone will be anything a person wants and doesn't tell someone else that a $500 headphone will be better by 5x as much. More like, 20% better as above would state. 
So $100 headphone would be 100% and $500 headphone would be 120% the quality. 100% + 20% added on.
 
All this is rough at best, but shows what I mean.
 
 
Choose headphones and earphone on the preference of sound at the lowest need since most headphone will sound good. Aim for comfort, build and your personal sound preference according to your musical tastes.
EDIT: And of course, price wise. Don't spend what you can't afford to.
Edit: Can't is with a "t", not a "c"

 
You mean a logarithmic scale?
 
 

 

[BotByte]

Quote:

 
You mean a logarithmic scale?
 
 

I'm bad at math. I barely passed it in college. 

 

[ChristmaSFnatic]

Quote:

I've just heard talk on the forums.
 
I would say go with the S4 if you like them. The turbines are really nice, but I think you're too apprehensive on buying them since money is tight and all.
 
The S4, if it's the sound you want, will all that you'll need.

But JandR is ok right?
 

 

[Howlgram]

I'm not exactly an audiophile but i guarantee you that if you get a higher-end headphones, even if you dont notice a lot of difference at first, after using them for a while you will start realizing that the difference is huge and you will be all thankful for getting better headphones. Also price is not necessarily related to quality, so read reviews and stuff.
And something else, I would recommend you to ask which headphones are better four your "x" taste in music, like post whatever you listen to because if you get some expensive headphones but that do not fit your music then you would have been doing better with another cheaper pair.

 

[David58117]

op - tough to recommend something without knowing what you listen to.
 
its not just "paying more equals better quality" - how you define "quality" is whats important.  the most expensive $400 iems in my collection arent necessarily my favorite.  Hearing different sound signatures is important and will give you an idea of what direction to go into.
 
starting with what genres you listen to is a good start.

 

[ChristmaSFnatic]

Sorry, I posted it several times before. Anyway...
 
Rock and Roll(bluesy type of rock like AEROSMITH, Guns N Roses, Bon Jovi)
A bit of pop(Katy Perry, Lady Gaga)
Christmas songs
Disney songs(Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, etc)
 

Thats pretty much it.

 

[Majin]

+1
 
my fav atm is the xeport 5010 which only cost $15 and i prefer them over brainwavz m1 & m2 and other more expensive iems
 
so if you never tried anything else beside the stock apple earbuds ionno if you should spend more on more expensive iems, but thats up to you
 
Quote:

op - tough to recommend something without knowing what you listen to.
 
its not just "paying more equals better quality" - how you define "quality" is whats important.  the most expensive $400 iems in my collection arent necessarily my favorite.  Hearing different sound signatures is important and will give you an idea of what direction to go into.
 
starting with what genres you listen to is a good start.

 

 

[David58117]

get the s4s.
 
save your money until youre more familiar with what you want.  maybe try something analytical next...re0 or hf5, then youll have an idea of what you prefer.
 
from free ibuds to s4s is a pretty big step.

 

[nipit]

Quote:

Quality and price aren't necessarily related.
 
- Plus IEMs are pretty destructible...
 
- Plus finding the right IEMs is as much about your own taste as absolute SQ...
 
- Plus large amounts of money often only bring small SQ improvements...
 
- If you upgrade later, the technology will have improved
 
- Some of the higher end IEMs may be rather pointless on most iPod models unless you use a separate headphone amp.
 
My own experience with IEMs was  HF5($150)  = JVC61($20) < JVC51($40)  < Yamaha EPH 100 ($125). But none of them come anywhere near my $225 HD25 portable phones. (These are UK prices - yes; we do get gouged.)
 
The 51s are said to have a similar signature to Turbine Golds if EQed right, but to sound an edge better. However I'm not sure if the iPod has much EQ capability? I you play around with the EQ and don't notice any distortion, then I'd try JVC51s or JVC FX80s and only worry about upgrading if these don't make you happy. If you do upgrade then you can still use the cheaper IEMs for working out etc.
 
 
 
 

That's your experience. In my experience I can feel the huge difference between 40-60$ IEMs & TF10. Such a big difference that it makes me not to want to listen to my music through cheaper earphones. Too bad I don't have full sized headphones right now to comapre IEM &  headphones, but my FA-011 should arrive soon.

 

[BotByte]

Quote:

 Too bad I don't have full sized headphones right now to comapre IEM &  headphones, but my FA-011 should arrive soon.

IEM's are pure value in comparison to full sized. A decent CIEM will blow most, if not 99% of full sized out of the water in terms of SQ.
$40 IEM's will blow $200 full sized out of the water.
 
But then, Some fullsized can be pretty glorious also, like T50RP's.
 
 
But I have to point out one thing Scuttle said:
 

Originally Posted by scuttle 

- If you upgrade later, the technology will have improved

 
Nothing has changed since the Nazi created Hi-Fi to record Hitler. It's the same technology, just different ways of using it.