[catscratch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jinx20001 /img/forum/go_quote.gif i know i realise there was no hostility now mate i apologise 4 my jump to conclusions its hard to see how it is being said thats all,i agree the livewires are competitors but mine are broken and too bassy which is why i prefer the shures,once again i apologise 4 my hostility also i live in england and its 6:45 in the morning right now and ive not slept im a bit grouchy and read your statement wrong,you guys are nice natured here on head fi and uve proven that

No worries

 

[D-Boy]

sigh... Yeah I don't know... I really start questioning my ears, maybe I can't hear half the stuff you guys do... I just don't find the excitement or amazing revelation that I hear about when I read comments, like from jinx20001 and other reviews online.

I been recommended to try the Denon AH-C700, I'm gonna give the Shure's another few weeks, and when my black olive foam sleeves come I'll try those too.

I have had the:

Panasonic RP-HJE50s
JVC FX33 Marshmellows
Sennheiser CX300s

and upgrading to the E500s from those, doesn't seem to justify the price tag... at least for now. The Sennheiser HD555s I bought really wowed me which led me to buy the E500s. I have never heard the ER4s or UE10s so I`m commenting strictly off my level of enjoyment lol... I want the HD555s or HD595s IEM mode, of course less sound stage due to IEMs. But some ppl say that the E500s beat the 555s socks

 

[majkel]

Actually, if the E500's didn't have that 9-11kHz roll-off, they'd be the HD595's, with closer, more intimate soundstage, roughly.

However I also heard that obvious and proven roll-off so what I could say is that this is the only but significant flaw of the E500's. Such high-end IEMs rise your expectations to the level that everything will be between OK and stunning. And here it is not.

One big drawback is easier to realize than a few minor flaws. That's why people caring about the highs will suffer from using the E500's. What I could suggest as the last chance upgrade is to replace the op-amp in the Cmoy for AD8620. If you've got a DIP8 socket, you need the Brown Dog adapter as well. If this won't stop you from missing the trebles, sell these headphones and think about Ety's or good custom IEMs, ACS T2 maybe?

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by D-Boy /img/forum/go_quote.gif My main annoyance now is I constantly find myself putting the volume on my e500s higher than I would normally to get the complete sound set I want... maybe it's my hearing or maybe this amp doesn't work fully at low levels.

That's my experience with my E4c too. The Shure's sound better the louder I play them, while the Denon C700 mentioned above sound great at low - medium volume levels (i.e. normal) without needing to reach for the loudness button.

We'll see what I think of the E500PTH when they get here...

 

[D-Boy]

New discovery, seems the sleeve really do make a big difference. I'm currently using the soft-flex tips, small on left ear, medium on right ear... my ears are weird like that... but anyways... it seems the suggestion by some of the head-fiers are right.

Some reason my "X Japan - Art of Life" through the nano with rockbox and FLAC sounds amazing, at least compared to whatever I did previously (yellow foam sleeves without amp, and with amp), I'll experiment some more but it definitely sounds much better then with the foams. Unfortunately they are not as isolating. At one point after ripping Art of Life, and listening through the E500s I was debating whether my CD was a fake and that the sound quality was due to someone making a copy with an mp3

. However, it seems it's just how I am playing it. The negative here is that my trance sounds much weaker, the bass in "Andain - Beautiful Things (Gabriel and Dresden Unplugged Mix)" sounds shallow and some reason can't really feel it, it's odd that the drums in the rock sounds very good but the artificial bass sounds empty.

Positive is the soft-flex are much easier to insert. Although this is fun to play around with I do not wish to increase wear and tear or always switch tips for different music, especially since the warranty date I have printed is almost a year from the day I opened the box

. My only hope is the cross fingers and hope the black foams to arrive soon will compromise in between the good bass/mid representations of the yellow foams and the better crisp sound of the soft-flex.

 

[elnero]

Try various forms of tri-flanges and/or modified tri-flanges if you can. I've tried pretty much every variation you can think of, cutting down the stock to various lengths, cutting off a flange, etc. I finally settled on an Etymotic tri-flange that has no extra stock after the last flange. For me at least those offered the best compromise of sound, fit and comfort plus I don't have to replace them every week or two like I did with foams.

For you I might also wager a guess that black foam tips might offer what you're looking for sonically. For me the black foams were too bright but otherwise offered similar characteristics as the yellow foams but with a bit better overall performance across the board (with the exception of being too bright).

 

[D-Boy]

I'd have to risk ruining the flanges haha, if I screwed up. I know the flanges with all 3 don't fit in my ear at all. feels like they're jabbing me, maybe making them biflange will work. But yeah, they aren't cheap to replace if I did mess it up.

 

[elnero]

Quote:

Originally Posted by D-Boy /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'd have to risk ruining the flanges haha, if I screwed up. I know the flanges with all 3 don't fit in my ear at all. feels like they're jabbing me, maybe making them biflange will work. But yeah, they aren't cheap to replace if I did mess it up.

Yeah, I was fortunate to have a few come my way over the past couple of years. When I had E4's I had similar problem fit problems as you with tri-flanges so I first started by cutting off the end flange on each. I don't remember the exact process I went through but I have a few different variations around of tri-'s with different length stocks and bi-'s with various length stocks. The E500's sit further out than the E4's so I was able to actually use the tri-flanges if I took care inserting them but it wasn't until I got to try these Etymotic tri's that I got from a recent meet that I found a near perfect match for me. The nice thing is once you've found one that works you can use em for a good long time.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

I am using the black foam tips with my Shures's for the comfort, but they do sound a little better in the bass with the tri-flange when I cut the stalk shorter (i bought a 5-pack a while back of both for my E4c). I don't recall a significant change in the highs with the switch to black foam. I'll spend some time trying them all again, and actually paying attention to the change in sound, not just the fit, and report back after I have my E500's to try it on.

Maybe making them into bi-flanges will improve the comfort, and I'll have to try that with long and short stalks too. Thanks!

 

[elnero]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict /img/forum/go_quote.gif I am using the black foam tips with my Shures's for the comfort, but they do sound a little better in the bass with the tri-flange when I cut the stalk shorter (i bought a 5-pack a while back of both for my E4c). I don't recall a significant change in the highs with the switch to black foam. I'll spend some time trying them all again, and actually paying attention to the change in sound, not just the fit, and report back after I have my E500's to try it on. Maybe making them into bi-flanges will improve the comfort, and I'll have to try that with long and short stalks too. Thanks!

I've found the upper mids to probably be affected the most be changes in length to the stock of a tri-flange although the whole spectrum is affected to some degree.

 

[NewSc2]

I'm having the same issue. After my dog got into my ER4P's, I decided to upgrade to the E500's/SE530's to see what everybody was talking about. I just got them a few days ago, and I'm a bit disappointed. The highs are really rolled off and the er4p's seem to be a lot more forgiving on bad recordings (I listen to a lot of live sets). Overall they seem to be a bit more distant than the er4p's.

There are some things I like about the headphone, like the modular cable lengths and the fit, but soundwise so far they're a notch below the Ety's. The Ety's responded well to EQ (bass mainly), but the E500's seem to bloat when EQ's added.

 

[jant71]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict /img/forum/go_quote.gif That's my experience with my E4c too. The Shure's sound better the louder I play them, while the Denon C700 mentioned above sound great at low - medium volume levels (i.e. normal) without needing to reach for the loudness button. We'll see what I think of the E500PTH when they get here...

You've hit on one of the dynamics vs. armature issues. The dynamics are fuller at low volumes and less sensitive to music file volume differences.

Also, I gone as far as making adapters for UE/Sony EX etc. tips to fit. The tone and timbre do change. For example I like Shures with UE single flange. Bass and treble tone were more to my liking. The treble was more extended to my ears since the UE tips are shorter. YMMV, but I remember the treble is more extended when the tip does not extend past the nozzle as much. Ah yes, just saw Elnero mentioned this kind of effect also.

I've also made Shure tri's into mono's leaving only the largest flange. I had a three pack and made one of each, single, bi, and tri-flange. The single was clearly the best of the 3 for SQ. Again, most ears are different, but it's worth a try. Especially if you are disappointed. Always best to pull out all the stops before giving up on them.

 

[robm321]

Quote:

Originally Posted by elnero /img/forum/go_quote.gif See herein lies the point I was trying to make earlier, to you the highs on the E500's seem recessed but to me they're darn near perfect whereas to me the highs on the Ety's lean towards being too bright and harsh. Edit: Also, changing the tips on the E500's is like changing pads on Grado's there can be significant sonic changes. I use an Ety tri-flange that has no stock on it, add the stock and the upper mids get too forward and the sound becomes too hard. The new black foam tips sound a bit too raged in the upper frequencies for my liking, in particular they accentuated sibilance quite a bit but they did have very good mids and bass, etc.

I'll have to try the ety tri-flange then. If I don't lose track of this thread, I'll report back.

 

[gp_hebert]

For what it's worth, when I had my E500, I tried changing from the triflanges to the black foamies, and I noticed less "boominess" in bass and a slightly more forward treble. But I think it's quite pointless to discuss tip rolling the same way as pad rolling on the Grados because fit is different for everyone...

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gp_hebert /img/forum/go_quote.gif For what it's worth, when I had my E500, I tried changing from the triflanges to the black foamies, and I noticed less "boominess" in bass and a slightly more forward treble. But I think it's quite pointless to discuss tip rolling the same way as pad rolling on the Grados because fit is different for everyone...

I don't think it is pointless. It helps people know in advance what a tip change for comfort might deliver in terms of sound - reassures them they aren't nuts when it sounds different.

I too posted (in this thread) that I noticed a reduction in bass with the change to foamies. You heard a slightly more forward treble that I didn't notice at first, till you posted this and I went back and tried it, and confirmed this.

So, I think it's nice to know ahead of time how a person can tune their Shures with different tips. In my case, I can tolerate the black or grey silicon, the triple flange or black foamies, I just hate the yellow foamies (too itchy).