[daveyostrow]

  Hi,
 
I lost my apple earpods last week and been in search of new in ear phones. After searching a lot of threads and |jokers| reviews finalized with 
 
Denon AH C300 - 50$
 
ATH IM 50 - 65$
 
ATH IM 70 - 100$
 
RHA MA 750I - 130$
 
I will be using these only for listening to music and watching movies in my nexus 4 and hp laptop. And i will be listening to all kinds of music,  but more inclined towads songs with sub-bass. Considering Denon AH C300  has a current groupon deal for 50$ i am confused on what to buy. The serious doubt i have is what details and clarity will i be missing in Denon AH C300  when compared to other three. So, is it worth spending extra 80$ (if it is 750i) . Can any one please suggest which one to go. And i will be using my earphones almost 12-13 hrs a day. And if any of the three gonna make huge difference in my listening experience by spending extra 80$ i am looking forward to go for.
 
Any help is truly appreciated..

where are the Denon AH C300 $50?

 

[warlock07]

@daveyostrow in groupon US site...
 
and do u think its better buy than the other ones and how much difference is it gonna make in clarity and details for a casual listener

 

[Vanarian]

   
Thank you, we look forward to hearing more

 
Finally back from my first weeks with my C301 guys! 
 
What can I tell you? I am in love with them. These earphones are versatile. Depending on what I plug them on, I feel like I'm hearing different pairs of phones.
 
For a portable setup, I think that the combo Sony Xperia Z1 + Digizoid ZO² is the way to go for me. With this you can enjoy a smooth yet precise sound, contoured by a dynamic bassline. You truly feel the "subwoofer experience" but it's the kind of "intimate yet extended clubbing" experience. I use it almost everyday and I can't get tired of it, really.
 
In comparison, without the ZO, the C301s are already a pair of phones worth it, everything is already way better than the average listening experience. But it lacks something to me, maybe some more life. Sound is too much tamed. 
 
Now for another setup... I plugged them on my MSI GS70. I use Equalizer APO on my PC so I can make presets on the go for any phones, if you don't use it yet just try it. It does not bypass Windows itself, it acts like the source before Windows adds everything. So every program, game, music source will be controlled by the equalizer, that's pretty awesome IMO. Just be careful while using it, never use any of your sources/DAC at full volume because if you hold on triggers switch for too long while you're setting up your EQ, the program continuously sends signals to your PC and... the result is that for 1 or 2 seconds sound level will go to MAD levels, it might be bad for your ears AND your phones. 
 
Anyway, back to the topic! Plugging directly the C301s into my pc, the sound was cool, but I wanted a bit more. I plugged then my ZO on them, and it was ok, really! But I wanted more again. So finally I double amped them, C&C BH + ZO². There I felt two things.
 
1) The C301s are a hungry pair of cans, and driving them properly just changes a lot in everything about them. Before I had awesome earphones, now I have monsters.
 
2) Now welcome the BASS monster with impactfull bass, welcome the rich and warm tonality of mids... and welcome the harsh side of sparkly yet crystal clear highs. 
 
The word is out, I see what you guys meant when you were saying that the Denons can sound really harsh on the high. It's not a distorted high, it still is damn clean. But it's like a piercing one. That of course is with the stock FLAT EQ from my PC. But I suspect that I will hear the same from my Z1 is I double amp them, since I don't have at least a 10 bands EQ on my phone yet.
 
I didn't like it at first hearing, it was like a wild beast. Too ferocious. I spent almost 3 hours on EQing them then, with various settings. 
 
And with the proper EQing, here is how I will describe them from my PC with proper driving : these earphones are just an insane bang for the buck. The sparkly pics were succeessfully tamed, the vocals are intimate and gorgeous, I love enjoying a warm guitar like it's playing in front of me, or like it's plugged on a good tube powered amp. Even the bass can be tamed or overboosted like you want, I could not make these earphones sound distorted. Whatever I threw at them, I got it back right away in the proper manner. 
 
 
Finally my actual best listening experience with my C301s is when I EQ them properly and double amp them from my PC. Though I don't feel frustrated when I'm on the go with my Z1 and my ZO. Actually I just feel like I hear another pair of earphones. Both are great for their use, and the best is that it is the same pair in reality.
 
 
However, I need to point out that I have a little pinch about the fitment in the ears. I usually use the stock buds without any stabilizer, it suits me well and it's comfortable. But when I move it might move and i lose a bit of seal. Using the stabilizer keeps them in place but I can't totally "pop" them into my ear canals. I win some stability but I lose some bass. So I don't really know what to think about it. At least, I don't have aches with them, the phones are featherweight!

   
When I am involved in group description processes, I encourage and ask everybody involved to reach whatever level of accuracy is required for the description to be effective.  With headphones, detailed descriptions are quite useful because of the big differences in sound preferences and sound flaws tolerances among people.
 
My AH-C300 are now sounding like a $185-$200 pair of bass heavy IEMs.  At 350+ working hours, the treble keeps moving away from being dry.  Changes are subtle.  But, small changes make the difference between audio haven and having our ears complain from sound indigestion.  The best amp for my C300 used to be the one with the most treble.  Now, the best amp is a different one because all of my amps are producing good highs with my C300.  But, there is more.  I have noticed that the bass has tightened up enough to let me raise the 50kHz and 55kHz EQ sliders higher.  Before, raising those sliders higher, resulted in a disorderly rumble and no added punch.  That was wrong!  Now, raising those sliders adds noticeable punch and some orderly (or perhaps tolerable) rumble to the mix.
 
Overall, the way my C300 were sounding before, made me wonder if the big price drop from $200+ to $80- came with a downgrade in some part of the design.  With the actual sound, it is hard to think about a downgrade involved in the price drop.
 
I have placed my AH-C300 back into listener absent work.  My listening time is on average about 1.5 hour per day.  So, adding 100 working hours would take about 67 days in normal mode!
 
I am glad that my final impressions can't be turned in yet for my AH-C300 pair! 

 

 
I hope that I will hear an evolution too, bud!

 

[Shinystar325]

it gets surprisingly cheap now!!!

 

[Alberto01]

I listened to my R-50 exclusively for 7 days and then came back to my AH-C300.  Upon return, they sounded as good as they did when I switched to the R-50.  So, most of the perceived sound improvement that I have been posting about, comes from changes in the earphones and not my brain getting adapted to the sound.
 
Vanarian, I noticed that the harshness in the highs, had decreased with my AH-C300 pair after about 300 hours of working time.  At about 400 hours, they seemed to have stopped getting better.  At that point there is still some harshness with some recordings, but it is quite manageable.  That comes from treble spikes at around 2.5-5 kHz.  When those spikes are there and the treble is dry, then harshness is greatly felt and part of the treble sounds cheap and sometimes horrible.  That is the way these sounded at first.  With some work with the equalizer, that harshness and cheapness went away with some recordings and the sound was impressive.  With others, there was no way to take it out.  However, after 400 hours, the dryness in the treble is gone which helps a lot with the harshness issue.  I don't know if those treble spikes have partially smoothed out.  It seems to me that they have not.  I do know that the richer (less dry) treble makes those lower treble spikes sound acceptable or even good, to the point that I see myself raising the 3.5-5kHz sliders with recordings where I had those sliders in neutral or slightly in the negative zone.  Now, no part of the frequency spectrum sounds cheap at all.
 
The only drawback that I am still finding is that with faulty recordings where the amount of treble is low, the equalizer can't give me enough treble to make them sound good.
 
I have medium size ears, but very big ear canals.  These AH-C300 fit me as if they had been custom made and it is hard to make them fall out of my ears, even without the ear stabilizers.  However, I got some earwax slightly blocking my right ear and I am not sure that the tips that fit me the best (PHILIPS SHE9500 large stock tips) are giving me a perfect seal.  I wonder how much better or different my AH-C300 would sound without the earwax blockage and with bigger tips.  So, I am not turning in my final impressions, yet.  HA, HA.  But, I can already say that for my highly demanding ears, the AH-C300 are a dream come true.  I wanted a pair of bass heavy IEMs that would sound great not just with EDM and equivalent stuff, but with other genres, as well.  The AH-C300 fit those requirements.  Beware, that the sound that my ears are satisfied with, requires the use of an equalizer with a lot of bands.  This makes portable audio setups unfit for my ears.  I have 45 bands with two equalizers in foobar2000.  Anybody who is thinking about getting these ought to know that, when they read that these are a dream come true for me.
 
ROMANS 5:17 is a dream come true, also.
 
Beware of the music you listen to.  Man makes music, and music makes miracles.  Toxic music is a life destroyer.  Anointed music is a life builder.  Here is some anointed stuff that has been around longer than a decade:
 

 
 

 

[edupunk]

couldn't resist at 49.99...from researching they seem like a fun pair of iem's (though, people complain about the fit.), exactly what I'm looking for. thanks all!   

 

[Euphonik]

Damn, that is a good deal...let us know how it works out!

 

[Alberto01]

  couldn't resist at 49.99...from researching they seem like a fun pair of iem's (though, people complain about the fit.), exactly what I'm looking for. thanks all!   

 
 

  Damn, that is a good deal...let us know how it works out!

 
We thought we had gotten the deal of the century at $70-$90!  Now, you come and beat the crap out of our deals, with the deal of the millennium and make all of us envious and wondering if we got trumped.  You should not have told us about it!  HA, HA.
 
Let us know how these work for you.  They behave more like headphones than IEMs in the fact that there is a significant change in sound quality after several hundred hours of use time and from amplification.

 

[daveyostrow]

  couldn't resist at 49.99...from researching they seem like a fun pair of iem's (though, people complain about the fit.), exactly what I'm looking for. thanks all!   

where are people seeing a $50 price tag?

 

[Alberto01]

 

  couldn't resist at 49.99...from researching they seem like a fun pair of iem's (though, people complain about the fit.), exactly what I'm looking for. thanks all!   

where are people seeing a $50 price tag?

 
It was right here:
 
http://www.groupon.com/deals/gg-denon-urban-raver-in-ear-headphones-with-remote-and-microphone
 
It seems like there aren't any in stock right now.

 

[daveyostrow]

thanks, didnt notice the first time
interested in comparing these to the xb90 myself

 

[Alberto01]

  thanks, didnt notice the first time
interested in comparing these to the xb90 myself

 
If you want to get them at a lower cost than normal, just wait until someone is selling them used or for an open box unit.  Since these are big, the range of ear shapes compatible with them is narrow compared to other normal size IEMs.  This will result in many people returning or reselling them b/c they did not get a good fit with them.

 

[daveyostrow]

   
If you want to get them at a lower cost than normal, just wait until someone is selling them used or for an open box unit.  Since these are big, the range of ear shapes compatible with them is narrow compared to other normal size IEMs.  This will result in many people returning or reselling them b/c they did not get a good fit with them.

I hear, I did see some deals but im not so sure im convinced yet... the build really does not look durable. Im willing to give em a shot though.

 

[Alberto01]

 

   
If you want to get them at a lower cost than normal, just wait until someone is selling them used or for an open box unit.  Since these are big, the range of ear shapes compatible with them is narrow compared to other normal size IEMs.  This will result in many people returning or reselling them b/c they did not get a good fit with them.

I hear, I did see some deals but im not so sure im convinced yet... the build really does not look durable. Im willing to give em a shot though.

They seem durable to me in all aspects.  However, you can judge by people's reviews.  If you don't find many people complaining about durability, then that is an experience that should be accounted for.  Tell me what you like about the XB90EX and what you don't like, so that I can give you an idea about what to expect out of the AH-C300

 

[daveyostrow]

 
They seem durable to me in all aspects.  However, you can judge by people's reviews.  If you don't find many people complaining about durability, then that is an experience that should be accounted for.  Tell me what you like about the XB90EX and what you don't like, so that I can give you an idea about what to expect out of the AH-C300

beside xb90 having great mids, the bass reaches deep, deepest i heard. im not expecting denon to compete directly but i know sony are not the most refined so its hard to know where the denon stand.