[EISENbricher]

Thanks bud.

Any idea where can I get these cheap with international shipping? AE don't seem to have them.

Thanks again!

Only on Amazon US. SoundSoul only ships to US and UK.

 

[Ira Delphic]

 

I agree, except for the audiophile part. The sentiment is fine, but the adjective is misused, IMO. I would say that the majority of people here are audiophiles.
Feel free to disagree, but I understand audiophile to mean a lover of hi-fi audio, an enthusiast. The root of the word, "phile" is loving. In this case, loving audio.

Perhaps its misuse by the general public to reflect the elitist nature of the hobby is confusing. I suppose replacing audiophile with something like golden ears would be more accurate.

Good post otherwise.

True. Outside of Head-Fi, people seem to think audiophiles are like that -- which they don't. Apparently a lot of you guys here are much more friendly than the people I meet in real life.
 
IMO the term "golden ears" is a better way to describe the elitist side of the audiophile hobby. Since audiophile literally means "music lover," I don't see why some people call themselves "music lovers" instead of audiophiles. It's pretty much the exact same thing.

 
I disagree. The people that I know that love music the most - and really know their music as in being walking encyclopedias on the subject - don't spend much time on the quest for audiophile SQ. Friends that do studio recording work also spend little time on the gear - as far as listening. Recording - the mic's used, etc is a different matter. Being an audiophile goes way beyond loving music. IMO it is more of a compulsion that in the end does little to increase the pleasure of listening to music. But nothing wrong with that 

. But let's not confuse loving the gear used to listen to music and loving the music. They are two distinct but related things.

 

[Darner]

I don't think audiophiles = music lovers. Audiophiles are often music lovers, it's true, and they generally do love music. To me, audiophiles are people who are discerning about headphones, earphones, and stereos. For HeadFi, that means headphones and earphones. A music lover doesn't have to be an audiophile. Take a guy who plays the saxophone really well, and learns by duplicating great solos from a little record player (many jazz people did learn this way, in fact), or by playing with other musicians. Say this guy is a great musician, loves music, but prefers to concern himself with his instrument, notes, and feel, rather than equipment that plays recordings. Is he an audiophile?
 
Many audiophiles, the way I see it, have a sort of equipment fetish. Many of them spend way more time thinking, making observations, and writing about headphones then they actually do about music. This wouldn't be a popular opinion on HeadFi, maybe. I've seen how so many reviews start of with "I'm not an audiophile by any means..." or something like that. This shows that many people view the audiophile status as some high honor, a status they would not dare claim for themselves. As if to do so is to claim perfection, to be arrogant. This seems silly to me. Saying you're an audiophile doesn't need to be a claim to utter perfection, although I doubt there's any changing this pattern of use of the term. It just means you like the ever-evolving frontier of audio-recording listening technology. Maybe that's the best definition of what an audiophile is.
 
Beyond having an equipment fetish (I don't mean this as an insult, but it's true, let's face it!), I think a lot of audiophiles are a bit uptight about their hobby. The semi-sacred quality that is attributed to the status of "audiophile" is part of it. The stereotype of the audiophile may not be all correct, and there's a lot wrong with it, but there is something kind of misplaced about the whole audiophile thing when it's taken too seriously. I mean, the amount of time, mental energy, and money put into expensive cables, for example, to me that's way beyond a love of music. I'll take the saxophonist with the little record player over that any day.
 
Sometimes I don't express myself in the best way, and likely I'm wrong on some points, but maybe there's some truth to it, too. Maybe it comes down to the fact that music is a creative, artistic pursuit, which has a lot to do with emotion, social exchange, and sometimes a bit of madness. The heart of music is often a messy affair, in other words, a sort of dialog between order and disorder. I wouldn't say this is true about audiophilia.
 
EDIT: Ira Delphic posted his response while I was writing the above, and I would say he says what I'm trying to say in a more concise and efficient way, I think! Had I read his post before I would have said +1, ditto, aye, etc...

 

[twister6]

Thanks bud.

Any idea where can I get these cheap with international shipping? AE don't seem to have them.

Thanks again!

 
Just a suggestion, in general for anybody asking headphone recommendation, please include a price range of your budget

  S-018 is insanely cheap under $10 (at least when I bought it off amazon for $7.99) and good for it's price.  But if you provide a price range of something like $50, for example, you might get more choices and recommendations.

 

[Ira Delphic]

 

Thanks bud.

Any idea where can I get these cheap with international shipping? AE don't seem to have them.

Thanks again!

 
Just a suggestion, in general for anybody asking headphone recommendation, please include a price range of your budget

  S-018 is insanely cheap under $10 (at least when I bought it off amazon for $7.99) and good for it's price.  But if you provide a price range of something like $50, for example, you might get more choices and recommendations.

 
The S-018 is in fact USD$12.99 on Amazon at the moment! Call it the Head-Fi effect! 

 

[nimrodiny]

Just a suggestion, in general for anybody asking headphone recommendation, please include a price range of your budget   S-018 is insanely cheap under $10 (at least when I bought it off amazon for $7.99) and good for it's price.  But if you provide a price range of something like $50, for example, you might get more choices and recommendations.

Thanks for pointing out, however, I actually did mention my budget on one of the previous posts - around 40$.
Thanks guys.

 

[mrmoto050]

  Sweet! Sounds great. Thanks a lot!
 
Anyone else has more suggestion for good IEMs that would be good for the gym?

Soundsoul U10, good flush fit overall balanced nice bass. I have not heard the soundmagic Iem's but would agree with anything @ Hisoundfi recommends.

 

[saintmarcus]

Testing Huawei,no audiophile over here but they seem bassy and punchy for starters. One of the problems is my primary player(Xperia Z3) is on repair. How many hrs to burn in? 50?

 

[Whitigir]

The S-018 is in fact USD$12.99 on Amazon at the moment! Call it the Head-Fi effect! 

People need to be paying us for these effects eh ? Lol

 

[EISENbricher]

People need to be paying us for these effects eh ? Lol

We head-fiers do get certain benefits though *cough* sometimes even unintentionally. It's all good : ) 

 

[Kamakahah]

Darner Ira Delphic

The word audiophile has two root words:
1. Audio
2. Phile

One is obvious. Two literally means loving. So the definition of audiophile is an audio lover.

My point is that the word has been misused in one way or another outside of its original context. It borders on slang. The way you both chose to define audiophile in your own context serves as a perfect example to my original point.

In other words, you two, like many others, define "audiophile" from the standpoint of your own context and personal experience rather than the word and its definition.

I suppose one could argue that a word can be redefined by the way it is used within society rather than its original reference. I'd simply prefer one less positive term overshadowed by negative connotations.

 

[Grayson73]

  I went for a bit of cheap IEM shopping and got:
 
- TTPOD T2
- Xiaomi Pistons 2
- Soundsoul S-018
- Fake Sennheiser IE8: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.4.HfHlYf&id=40514596257&ns=1&abbucket=11#detail
 
I got the T2's for my wife since she wanted girly looking IEMs. Listened to them for a while, not impressed. Pistons I guess have been discussed to death, and sure the price/quality ratio is good. I wanted to check what happens when I turn on the "optimization" for the pistons on my mipad. Seems to muddy the bass even further. Certainly doesn't improve the sound.
 
Soundsoul S-018 is good for the price. I'd still recommend Hifiman RE-300 over them if you have to pay about the same (like I did). 
 
The fake IE8's are the best of the bunch. They sound more neutral and detailed. The bass was a bit weak with the horrible tips that came in the box, but good with Comply's.   
 
Nothing really comes close to my main IEM's, the 1000rmb Dunu DN-1000. Not a surprise with the price difference, but it'd be great to have something a little bit more comfortable for the road, which is cheap enough to lose/break all the time. The search continues.

 
Did you remove the mesh and filter from the Pistons?

 

[bhazard]

@Darner @Ira Delphic

The word audiophile has two root words:
1. Audio
2. Phile

One is obvious. Two literally means loving. So the definition of audiophile is an audio lover.

My point is that the word has been misused in one way or another outside of its original context. It borders on slang. The way you both chose to define audiophile in your own context serves as a perfect example to my original point.

In other words, you two, like many others, define "audiophile" from the standpoint of your own context and personal experience rather than the word and its definition.

I suppose one could argue that a word can be redefined by the way it is used within society rather than its original reference. I'd simply prefer one less positive term overshadowed by negative connotations.

This.
 
Hence my dislike for the word as well. Use it if you must, but some of the best discoveries and information can easily come from people with nowhere near the love of equipment, music, experience, or even a good ear. No one is, because everyone is (an audio lover).
 
Need to find my next new everyday combo. Duoza and Bluebird U6 maybe?

 

[Darner]

  ... In other words, you two, like many others, define "audiophile" from the standpoint of your own context and personal experience rather than the word and its definition.

I suppose one could argue that a word can be redefined by the way it is used within society rather than its original reference. I'd simply prefer one less positive term overshadowed by negative connotations.

 
I stand corrected.

 

[Whitigir]

*deleted*