Posted this originally in the wrong thread..
Got my TG-38S yesterday from Dasetn. Not going to overly judge them until I've gotten these broken in, but my first impressions are pretty close to BloodyPenguins. I remember not being bowled over with my Blox M2C's when I first got them, but after about 125 hours of burn in, I'm pretty happy with the sound....so the TG-38's hopefully have some changes to go through before I can put them on a level that surpasses the Blox's.
I'm just basing everything on first impressions. What I can say is that I can already tell they have stronger bass potential over the M2C's and the box that the Tingo's came in with its lining made a better impression over the cheap box that the blox's came in. Like BloodyPenguin said, there's something not quite right with vocals and the mids are recessed......there's a slight echo with voices. Don't know what he's using for sound equipment, but I've always ran all my earbuds as a base line using a sansa clip+ running rockbox.
Have used everything from Yuin Pk1's and Pk3's to Sennheiser MX580's and wasn't wow'd right out of the start with any of of them....maybe was with the Pk1's when amped, so I'll have to put some hours on these before saying anything further, but so far the Blox's sound much better and more balanced to my ears.
edit..Trying Yuin's donut foams on the TG-38's and will run them for 50 hours....but I still think the mids are recessed and the vocals have a shrill sound to them. No EQ setting will fix that on any of the various player's I've now tried. Hoping that it eventually goes away.
Thinking about getting blue ever blue's 328R's for comparison.
Actually, BloodyPenguin said that the mids are too forward - yet you hear them as recessed?
There must be a problem in your audio chain.
I've spent most of the day listening to TG-38S on my NFB-11.32, and the vocals are breathtaking, especially the female ones.
The Best of Eva Cassidy never sounded so good.
TG-38S is very transparent, and it will show you exactly what your source is capable of.
Both my "reference" setups - NFB-11.32 and ODAC+E12 - sound great, but E17 sounds only decent at best.
You have to treat this little gem same way you would treat any other great headphone. You wouldn't complain that HD800 doesn't sound good from a cheap MP3 player, right? I know, it sounds ridiculous to compare a 16$ earbud and a 1600$ headphone, but it's no more ridiculous than running the 16$ earbud on a 400$ setup, yet that's exactly what I'm doing.
No need for the donut foams, just use the ones included.
I can only hope that your brain will burn-in the same way as it did with the other ones, and you will hear TG-38S in all its glory.
M2C doesn't sound anywhere near as good as TG-38S.