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500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jun 26, 2001
- Posts
- 916
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- 11
I had the ED 268 just sitting around and collecting dust basically.
Few days ago surfing the net I noticed that the (discontinued) E868 have identical housings to the 268 and the specs may be quite close too (both have the saphire evaporated membranes), then something clicked in my head. What if i remove the Groove tip and replace it with an ordinary one from my first pair of 888 now sadly broken.
Well, I did and the result is great. Now I have something that sounds very close to 888, so IMO the 268 and 868 must be exactly the same phone except from the rubber tip.
I, personally never liked the groove design too much. OK they are fairly comfortable for me and has a bit more isolation, but sounded shrill with too much upper mids and no low bass whatsoever. The mod cures all this. The bass appears, in fact they even have a bit more apparent bass than 888, but not so well defined perhaps. The lower bass is there too.The mids are smooth, perhaps not as seductive as on the 888s but nice nevertheless, and the treble is clear without harshness. No more shrill/compressed upper mids. To be honest the difference from 888 is not at all that big. I might have a tough time telling them appart in a blind test. Also comparing them to MX500 the 268/868 came easily on top. Better detail, not as warm and with better soundstage.
So, these are good news since 868 has been discontinued but the 268 are still sold in Europe for about 40-45 € which is roughly half of the 888s price.
PS: all of the above comparisons were done with new and identical foamies over the buds
Few days ago surfing the net I noticed that the (discontinued) E868 have identical housings to the 268 and the specs may be quite close too (both have the saphire evaporated membranes), then something clicked in my head. What if i remove the Groove tip and replace it with an ordinary one from my first pair of 888 now sadly broken.
Well, I did and the result is great. Now I have something that sounds very close to 888, so IMO the 268 and 868 must be exactly the same phone except from the rubber tip.
I, personally never liked the groove design too much. OK they are fairly comfortable for me and has a bit more isolation, but sounded shrill with too much upper mids and no low bass whatsoever. The mod cures all this. The bass appears, in fact they even have a bit more apparent bass than 888, but not so well defined perhaps. The lower bass is there too.The mids are smooth, perhaps not as seductive as on the 888s but nice nevertheless, and the treble is clear without harshness. No more shrill/compressed upper mids. To be honest the difference from 888 is not at all that big. I might have a tough time telling them appart in a blind test. Also comparing them to MX500 the 268/868 came easily on top. Better detail, not as warm and with better soundstage.
So, these are good news since 868 has been discontinued but the 268 are still sold in Europe for about 40-45 € which is roughly half of the 888s price.
PS: all of the above comparisons were done with new and identical foamies over the buds
