[milesandcoltrane]

Seeing as how IEMs have become incredibly popular the past few years, and how good some of them have become (hello JH13), how many of you live with IEMs exclusively for all your listening needs (home and portable uses)? Alternatively, how many of you have considered this route?

I'm just curious. I'm personally on the fence about this. I love the sound of full sized, open headphones (HD600), but find myself using portable closed cans and IEMs due to circumstances (commuting, long hours out of the home etc).

Post away!

 

[grahamnp]

Maybe my full size can isn't as good as my IEM, but I listen to my RE0 more than my MS-1 and I don't find it to be a compromise at all.

 

[midoo1990]

I can live with iems although full size CANs are different experiance,but iems are not inferior and the gap is not night and day difference.

 

[buz]

I use IEMs all day at the office. Can live with them just fine but occasionally wonder if I should get a decent set of cans (only ones I have are MDR-V6 which I find to be a little flat sounding, thinking of maybe getting a pair of HD-600 although they are rather expensive...) to see whether it would make much of a difference.

ATM, I have the V6 on and somehow miss the bass from my FX500

 

[milesandcoltrane]

Interesting response so far.

The main difference for me has been the "out of the head sound" vs "in the head sound" when comparing full sized headphones to IEMs.

Sometimes I miss the bigger sound of full sized cans - that's why I lug my MDR7506 around quite often. But for pure convenience IEMs can't be beat. Though for me sound is a bit limited cuz I've only got the UM1.

 

[cn11]

I agree about bigger cans. I like to use my recabled 780's most of the time at work, because it's just more comfortable than having IEM's stuffed in my ears for hours on end. Even ones as comfortable as the IE8's. And the sound is more involving with the 780's too. So for me, IEM's exclusively, nope.

 

[Get_Zwole]

I use my Mage only at home, although ive never had any top tier cans im very happy right now.

 

[barleyguy]

My usage is about evenly split between custom IEMs, PK earbuds and Grados. So I voted the "do not" answer. When I get JH13s (or 16s), they'll probably get 80%, but I prefer full size cans late at night and earbuds when I don't want isolation.

The other thing about full size headphones is they are shareable. I like having Grados and a tube amp, and saying "check out this song".

 

[krmathis]

I do not, and prefer not to.
But I am pretty sure I could be living happily with a higher end IEM (like the JH13 Pro, JH16 Pro, UE18 Pro, or like) if really needed. Paired up with a nice source and a portable amplifier that is.

 

[milesandcoltrane]

I agree with barleyguy on the 'sharability' of full-sized cans.

And definitely agree with the comfort issue which cn11 brought up. Thing is though for a person like me, who doesn't have a set of open cans (can't really cuz I share a small rental apartment with the girlfriend and listening to open cans will wake her up and she'll transform into a Medusa of sorts) the comfort factor becomes less of an issue.

In fact I find my UM1 with the Shure Olives to be miles ahead in comfort compared to my MDR-7506. Taking them on and off and isn't much of a problem too. Though I can imagine IEMs like the Triple.Fi 10 being an absolute b*tch where comfort and insertion are concerned.

All said and done, at the end of the day, when compared to nice full-sized cans like the HD600, IEMs have to fight really hard I guess.

Get Zwole, I understand where you're coming from, totally. I don't have any top tier full sized cans either.

 

[average_joe]

IMO IEMs offer a better value from a SQ perspective than full sized cans. Plus, many full sized cans make my ears hot! I can listen to IEMs for much longer listening sessions. Eventually I will get a good pair of full sized cans, but right now I am very happy with the IEMs I have!

 

[ethan961]

I've been forced to listen to IEMs exclusively as my Starving Student has developed a short somewhere that I cannot for the life of me find. On top of that, the K240 Sextett is a 600 ohm headphone, practically useless without an amp. I don't want to buy any other cans until I have fixed my amp, because I don't want to buy another amp when my SS will have next to no resale value due to my interesting case design. So I voted yes as I'm currently doing it and surviving fine, but I certainly do miss my cans. Also, since Long & McQuade (AKG Canada suppliers) are useless, I have no new pads or elastics (well technically I have one new pad and one new elastic, that's what came in for me.)

 

[ClieOS]

I joined Head-fi to research my first pair of IEM, and has been an fairly dedicated IEM user since then. IEM is simply for practical for me since I almost always listen to music on the move or when noise isolation is needed. My answer is a definitively yes.

 

[shigzeo]

I cannot live with just IEMs. A few earphones I prefer to high end iems and overall, comfort with headphones and usability for wilst doing other things is better personally.

 

[mnagali]

anyone who has these, please comment on the SQ & extended listening comfort of:

custom IEMs vs $300+ full size cans