[Riordan]

my experience (4p):

bass: on portable gear (sony md mz-n1) i sometimes miss a little bass volume on some recordings (mostly when on the walk), but with my home amp bass volume is fine, quality is superb. to compare their bass to the sony ex70's bloated blobs would be blasphemy.

comfort: no problems there, not even on extended listening sessions, but i had to get used to them for 2-3 days.

frequent in/out: this is where i personally would advise against them. it takes some time to re-adjust the seal (longer with the foamies, it can take as much as half a minute when they're no longer "fresh"), it's uncomfortable and just not very practical.

 

[doctorjuggles]

There's something in this thread that puzzles me greatly. Being a novice in the field, perhaps someone could answer in a manner that's not too technical.

The thread starter has requested an opinion on whether the bass is "true to the artists intention", if you will. Well, unless you're the artist listening to the recording itself, how would you know whether the bass (or any frequency, for that matter,) is being represented as you intended? Surely everyone replying to this question is just basing it on their opinion of what the artist intended in the first place? To extend this further, surely even listening to the song/track/album on a superb home system would taint your view on what you believe the original intent was? If you have $30,000 worth of equipment at home, it's going ot have its own characteristic, possibly bass heavy, possibly bass shy. Whatever it is, it's not going to be perfect, but that's the way you're going to become used to listening to it, and once that happens, when you hear it another way, it's going to sound weird.

So sticking on a set of earphones and then saying "ah, that's how the artist itended it" is imposing your interpretation of it onto the piece, as far as my understanding goes.

As I said, I'm a novice, so if there's a different way that everyone calibrates "true intention" by, then feel free to point it out to me.

Thanks

 

[plainsong]

Yes, we put our own interpretations into what was intended in the music, and this happens just as much when you hear it live as it does with speakers or headphones. It's all opinion. That's all we really have. Many of us may think the etys are the best thing since sliced bread. Others will say they suck. Some users believe that source and amp matter, other don't. But all we can do is post our impressions. When it comes down to it, you can only really trust your own ears.

 

[doctorjuggles]

Phew, okay thanks. I thought I was missing something.

Thanks for the reply, Plainsong

 

[wiped]

Thanks everyone for your feedback, great to get info on the comfort and how it works to remove them and put them in many times.

-
Ofcourse when i write as the artist intended, it's very much up to the listener to decide if that is the case or not. That's why it's good to get many peoples oppionion and then try to sort it out.

 

[kunwar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Riordan my experience (4p): bass: on portable gear (sony md mz-n1) i sometimes miss a little bass volume on some recordings (mostly when on the walk), but with my home amp bass volume is fine, quality is superb. to compare their bass to the sony ex70's bloated blobs would be blasphemy. comfort: no problems there, not even on extended listening sessions, but i had to get used to them for 2-3 days. frequent in/out: this is where i personally would advise against them. it takes some time to re-adjust the seal (longer with the foamies, it can take as much as half a minute when they're no longer "fresh"), it's uncomfortable and just not very practical.

Equalisers are your friend, My Man
Then again you must have been warned that the bass is not ear thumoing like the DT 770's

 

[Riordan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kunwar Equalisers are your friend, My Man Then again you must have been warned that the bass is not ear thumoing like the DT 770's

yes, the "less bass on the walk" problem is alleviated by eq - and it's not really a problem anyway.

funny you should mention the beyer bassheads

i originally tended toward them as new main phone but jan meier persuaded me to take the more refined DT 880 instead - and i'm glad for it, as i prefer lean (but deep) bass to gobs and blobs of it

the etys do just that so on that account: recommended.

 

[kwhead]

The bass of the 4S is nearly perfectly flat. It is, for all intents and purposes, exactly "right" if you measure sound pressure at the ear drum. However, at low frequencies a lot of bass is transfered through bone conduction and not just sound pressure at the ear drum. So circumaural phones with a flat or near flat response (like the 580/600/650) will seem to give more bass umph than the Etys because they can actually transfer some bass to the skull.

So what to do? You can artificially increase the bass in canal phones, but this isn't without costs in sound quality. Similarly, you can trick the listener into thinking there is more bass by removing the high end. This is what the e5c does, if you look at the curve it has a pathetic roll off in the high end. Perhaps those high frequencies excite tinitus in semi-deaf metal heads so they wanted to roll off the response

.

Anyway, the 4S has a perfectly flat response. It does, however, take a little time to adjust to not getting any bass from bone conduction. Whether or not you in fact want a truely flat response is a question of taste and what kind of music you listen to. And yes, an amp really makes them shine.