[3DCadman]

For what it's worth, I sold my HD580's in favor of using my Etymotic ER4P's full time.

To me, they were superior in just about every way but bass. But the Ety's bass is just about as good, but in different ways. It's tight and clean. The Senns seemed to go lower and fuller, but somewhat indistinct.

Plus, no one can hear my music anymore while I'm listening! A definite plus for my wife!

 

[donaldekelly]

I originally bought them cause SO MANY long term headphone supremous types rated them so highly. So, they are good canalphones - just not my cup of tea. I do like the UM2s.

 

[omendelovitz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by donaldekelly I originally bought them cause SO MANY long term headphone supremous types rated them so highly. So, they are good canalphones - just not my cup of tea. I do like the UM2s.

Hey Donald, can you answer a quick Q for me? If I'm looking for a well-balanced set of canalphones, would you advise the super.fi's or the um2's?

thanks in advance.

O

 

[donaldekelly]

Quote:

Originally Posted by omendelovitz Hey Donald, can you answer a quick Q for me? If I'm looking for a well-balanced set of canalphones, would you advise the super.fi's or the um2's? O

Well - first the caveats
1) I only heard them for a few days - if I listened another week I might have changed my opinion some
2) I am still pretty new to judging sound and I don't trust my ears as much as other people trust their ears - I will think the X headphone is the greatest thing I ever heard and then the next day wonder if there is something wrong with it. At night, lying in bed, everything sounds good. Around supper time - nothing sounds good!
3) I am trying to respect the beta tester agreement and not give out too much info on a yet to be released product. It would be unfair to ultimate ears I think...
4) In fact all I heard was the beta model - the actual released item might be improved some.

All that said - I thought they were both very good. I don't think you can go wrong with the SuperFi 5 pro or the UM2. They did seem somewhat different so I think it would really be up to individual preference. Order from a place you can return it to and see what you think.

 

[unkoman]

Another question, do the canalphones that I've mentioned need an amp to sound proper? Despite their low impedance, I hear many say shures and ety's require headphones amp or beefy headphone out. Is a Zen touch enough to power the phones?

 

[jml90]

My h320 power my Shure E2's (not C's) nicely

 

[seeberg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by unkoman Another question, do the canalphones that I've mentioned need an amp to sound proper? Despite their low impedance, I hear many say shures and ety's require headphones amp or beefy headphone out. Is a Zen touch enough to power the phones?

The only canalphones I'm aware of that really stand to gain alot are high impedance(high ohms rating)- if your canalphones are low impedance, you can gain even more from an amp by using an impedance adaptor, like what Xin makes.

ER6 and ER4S in stock form have the most potential in this area, IMHO-they need an amp to shine right. Shures, Westones, and UE's don't, if I'm not mistaken, but combine any of them with an impedance adapter and an amp, and there should be some kind of audible improvement.

BTW, my SlimX350 powers my ER6i's just fine, and they get loud if I don't pay attention to where my volume is.

,
Abe

 

[karmypolitics]

canalphones are great in theory. I for one don't like having to amp up my headphones while up in public to drown out the noise, and muffling it is a good way to prevent that.

that said, once you get them, they're not so great. They fit with pressure in your ear, and so it isn't really comfortable. additionally, for me at least, when moving around they tend to fall out, which is not very pleasant.

 

[gorman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by karmypolitics that said, once you get them, they're not so great. They fit with pressure in your ear, and so it isn't really comfortable. additionally, for me at least, when moving around they tend to fall out, which is not very pleasant.

You're not referring to custom IEMs, are you?

 

[Jasper994]

I guess it kinda depends upon how you look at it.

Based on pure sound quality, you can generally get more sound quality out of a full sized can for the same money. Realistically though, the full sized cans come with a lot of added costs. You have to have a quiet environment to really enjoy the gain in sound quality. Most of us don't really have that sort of environment available at the drop of a hat. We must go out of our way to create such an environment costing time, money, and effort. On the other hand, canal phones produce consistant sound quality in nearly any environment whether you are mobile, stationary in a loud environment or off somewhere in your own little (quiet) solitary world. For me this consistancy wins out in spades since I am rarely able to achieve a comfortable, solitary environment that allows me to enjoy the gain in sound quality. For those few times that I can do so, the added cost (effort, $, etc.) of creating that environment offsets the actual price difference between the open headphones and the canal phones and actually skews it in the other direction whereby the canal phones carry less cost overall.

Just my opinion for whatever it's worth...

 

[Jasper994]

Quote:

Originally Posted by karmypolitics that said, once you get them, they're not so great. They fit with pressure in your ear, and so it isn't really comfortable. additionally, for me at least, when moving around they tend to fall out, which is not very pleasant.

Shure canal phones tend not to create pressure in your canals to the same extent that Etymotics do. I'm not to sure about other brands as I have not used them. with the foam tips and the E5's I experience no pressure at all. If I used the grey or clear tips and insert them carefully (really not as hard as it sounds) I can create a seal without pressurizing my ear canals.

As far as falling out goes, try a canal phone with a memory wire. While the memory wire can be a bit of a pain in the beginning, once they've taken shape they actually make it easier/faster to put on and it keeps them from falling out. I'd have to be doing some very frantic moving about to have the E5's fall out and any full sized can would have fallen off long before the E5's would have dislodged.

 

[Maou Laharl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3DCadman For what it's worth, I sold my HD580's in favor of using my Etymotic ER4P's full time. To me, they were superior in just about every way but bass. But the Ety's bass is just about as good, but in different ways. It's tight and clean. The Senns seemed to go lower and fuller, but somewhat indistinct. Plus, no one can hear my music anymore while I'm listening! A definite plus for my wife!

Someone who did what I'm considering. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my HD580s, but I want isolation. Stupid people around where I live play car stereo system on/off so often I can't truly enjoy my setup at times. Plus computer noise, fan noise, room mate, etc. I'm very tempted to buy a pair from Head-Room and try out a pair of canals.

Just two problems. One, if I like them, the charge has to stay on my CC, to which I have to sell my phones and other stuff to cover the cost. Tuition and stuff sucks. :/ Maybe I should try them, get it over with to see if I it's even worth thinking about them any more. Anind ofother minor problems I see is that cables are short of canal phones. What k cables do you buy when you need a slightly longer run? Also, if using a headphone amp, would the ER4S's be better? Not sure if I'll actualy go through with this any times soon, but I like to have a little feedback. Having isolation would be heaven if I can keep the sound quality that my HD580s produce. Am I giving anything up besides smaller sound stage?

Thanks for any input. I don't want to hijack the thread, but since we're on the subject...^^