[Starsky5000]

Hi...i'm looking to purchase one pair of earphone with accurate sound reproduction. I'm thinking about getting a pair of q-jays but before i do what's your honest opinion?

My budget is $300. Are they q-jays good or is their a better choice?

I'm currently using the Audio Technica CK7 & love these canal phones alot...how much better are the q-jays?

Thank You All.

 

[shigzeo]

if you could get past the price factor alone, denon c700, victor hp fx500, atrio m5 etc might make you a much happier person - they use dynammics which are in the heart of most speakers so they have some similar qualities so... that would probably represent a more natural sound to most people who are used to listening to normal speakers

 

[pseudohippy]

I was looking at the q-jays, got to hear them a little. I did find them to be pretty accurate but never tested them in a perfect enviroment. I also got to play with sleeks SA6, I think I made up my mind on the Sleeks. They are on sale right now also so Im gonna take the plunge.

 

[DARKHAVEN]

If you have $300 to spend, then you could by a new pair of Shure SE530s from eBay, which is BY FAR your best choice, in my opinion. If you look around here, you will find them to be one of the very finest IEMs made. They are substantially better then the q-jays, which are also very good. Cheers.

BTW, the SE530s are in a completely different league from the CK7 and SA6 (especially). If accuracy of sound reproduction is important to you, the Shures are the way to go.

 

[Szat]

Depends on what you regard as accurate. I had them for a week, they are detailed, but the sound for me was just completely unnatural (painfuly harsh & tiny).
Like Shigzeo, I found that an earphone with a dynamic driver usualy sounds more natural to me (they move more air than armature drivers, so you don't just hear but "feel" the sound as well), although I like my Altec Lansing IM716 (balanced armature).
Maybe if you describe what you mean by "accurate", because there are completely different sounding earphones you can call that IMHO.

 

[monolith]

I'd get Livewires for that money.

 

[epithetless]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DARKHAVEN /img/forum/go_quote.gif ...BTW, the SE530s are in a completely different league from the CK7 and SA6 (especially). If accuracy of sound reproduction is important to you, the Shures are the way to go.

You're kidding, right? You class the SA6 below the CK7? Interesting ears...

 

[DARKHAVEN]

Quote:

Originally Posted by epithetless /img/forum/go_quote.gif You're kidding, right? You class the SA6 below the CK7? Interesting ears...

Oops, I misspoke! Thanks for calling me on that. What I MEANT to say was I prefer the SE530s to both the SA6 and CK7. EDIT: to be clear, the SA6s (switched them by accident) are much better than the CK7s. I'm flipping around like a politician... I must have been very tired when I wrote that... Sorry for that, good catch. Cheers.

 

[DARKHAVEN]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Szat /img/forum/go_quote.gif Depends on what you regard as accurate. I had them for a week, they are detailed, but the sound for me was just completely unnatural (painfuly harsh & tiny). Like Shigzeo, I found that an earphone with a dynamic driver usualy sounds more natural to me (they move more air than armature drivers, so you don't just hear but "feel" the sound as well), although I like my Altec Lansing IM716 (balanced armature). Maybe if you describe what you mean by "accurate", because there are completely different sounding earphones you can call that IMHO.

Szat, I find your analysis of the SE530s to be interesting. The SE530s are know for, if anything, subdued treble. They're frequency response curve drops off below 19,000hz and I didn't find them to be harsh at all. Different ears, I guess.

Also, if I understand what you are saying about dynamic drivers, you are referring more toward the feel of the music, which is different then acoustic accuracy. Those tiny little armatures can be just as accurate if not moreso, without having that air-moving feel you are referring to. Frankly, I kind of think armatures are a better technology than dynamic drivers for that size. Just my opinion.

 

[rodaballo]

The Etys E4RP coupled with the right DAP (Sony A8... for instance) would be your best bet. IMHO.

 

[Szat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DARKHAVEN /img/forum/go_quote.gif Szat, I find your analysis of the SE530s to be interesting. The SE530s are know for, if anything, subdued treble. They're frequency response curve drops off below 19,000hz and I didn't find them to be harsh at all. Different ears, I guess. Also, if I understand what you are saying about dynamic drivers, you are referring more toward the feel of the music, which is different then acoustic accuracy. Those tiny little armatures can be just as accurate if not moreso, without having that air-moving feel you are referring to. Frankly, I kind of think armatures are a better technology than dynamic drivers for that size. Just my opinion.

Sorry, I should have made it clear, but the post is about the q-jays and I was talking about them (I never heard the SE530s).
I think you're right when you say that armature drivers can be more detailed and transparent than dynamic ones, but Starsky was looking for "accurate" sound reproduction, which is very subjective for everyone. Probably all earphone technologies have their shortcomings to reach true accuracy (which is not even possible with headphones

).

 

[ZarakiSan]

I had the SE530's for a few weeks and did not care about them. Their sound disappointed me. I also had some minor fit issues, but I didn't find them to be worth over 200 dollars.

The Q-Jays are probably more comfortable, but as for the sound, I cannot comment about that.

Then there's LiveWires and Freq's, both 'cheap' customs. Customs are the most comfortable, secure, and personal IEMs there can be. I'd recommend a look at those as well. I know the LW's can be returned within 30 days if you don't like them.

 

[ClieOS]

My opinion is, 'accurate' in IEM isn't the same as what most people will think in the speaker world. In speaker, you want the frequency response to be as flat as possible, but this isn't true to the headphone world (especially in IEM).

Due to the small size and close proximity of the transducer unit to your ear, most IEM is tuned (= EQ'ed) to give the sensation of full sound that we commonly associate large speaker - the Freq. Resp. might not be flat as speaker, but the result is a generally believed to be more preferable.

My belief is, 'accuracy' in high end IEM isn't about how flat the freq. resp. is, as in the speaker world. It is more to do with which IEM you believe to be more accurate in meeting your sonic expectation - yes, it is all personal preference, as every single IEM out there is tuned differently and you can't judge them by how flat their FR are.

Some people find the highlighted treble in ER4S to be fake sounding, some people think TF10 has a recessed mid, while other find SE530's treble roll off too early. However, the same IEM might sound great, or even highly accurate, to another group of people... If only we have an IEM that will always meet the listener's expectation.