mset
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2008
- Posts
- 16
- Likes
- 10
Hi guys
My first post here, thanks a lot to Jude who took the time to answer a question at Crackberry.com and open my eyes to the possibility of IEMs (yes... thanks a lot Jude, my pocketbook also thanks you for the hit it's about to take
)
I'll try to make this quick; I have a decent amount of experience with live sound reinforcement and I know a bit about audiophile gear. I know that quality power can make a big difference in terms of how your speakers sound.
I just ditched my land line (home phone) and I'm using a cell phone exclusively. I have a Blackberry 8830, and two iPods, a Nano and a Shuffle.
I have spent the last 5 hours learning about Westone, UE, Etymotic and Shure. I now understand the difference between balanced armature drivers and the standard cone-type speaker technology used in most cheapo earbuds.
My questions is this. Before I buy the Westone UM2s that I am salivating over... are my sound sources going to be able to drive these earbuds anywhere near where they need to be driven to perform optimally? I see you guys talking about which amps you are using and I assume that some guys here are so into it that you carry around mini amps that give your iPod signal the necessary boost to drive your IEMs properly (which is cool
).
Is there a cutoff point in terms of the quality of balanced armature driver that I can get, a point beyond which I will not hear a significant difference because the unit is not driven by a decent enough amplifier, for instance the one in my Blackberry?
I realize that getting a decent set of earbuds is going to change my iPod experience, but my main concern here is the use of earbuds with the Blackberry - it has replaced my land line and now when I talk to i.e. my relatives overseas for 45 minutes the damn thing heats up and becomes really uncomfortable. Also, some overseas calls are not of the quality that my landline was, and even though I understand that it will never be that way with a cell phone, I feel like the earbuds included with the 8830 are the standard crappy ones and that I can get way better quality with a decent set of earbuds. The question is, how good a set of earbuds will the Blackberry drive?
Well, that was pretty long winded. Sorry about that.
I hope this makes sense to someone and that you guys can give me some guidance before I drop $300+ on a set of IEMs that my Blackberry won't be able to drive.
By the way I intend to match up a decent set of earbuds with the new Shure MPA-3C for cell phone use (thanks again to Jude for the reco)
Shure - Music Phone Adapter (MPA) - iPhone Compatible Adapter
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PS - what the heck is with the Westone UM3 delay (15 months??), and is it a concern for those of you thinking of buying other Westone products?
My first post here, thanks a lot to Jude who took the time to answer a question at Crackberry.com and open my eyes to the possibility of IEMs (yes... thanks a lot Jude, my pocketbook also thanks you for the hit it's about to take
I'll try to make this quick; I have a decent amount of experience with live sound reinforcement and I know a bit about audiophile gear. I know that quality power can make a big difference in terms of how your speakers sound.
I just ditched my land line (home phone) and I'm using a cell phone exclusively. I have a Blackberry 8830, and two iPods, a Nano and a Shuffle.
I have spent the last 5 hours learning about Westone, UE, Etymotic and Shure. I now understand the difference between balanced armature drivers and the standard cone-type speaker technology used in most cheapo earbuds.
My questions is this. Before I buy the Westone UM2s that I am salivating over... are my sound sources going to be able to drive these earbuds anywhere near where they need to be driven to perform optimally? I see you guys talking about which amps you are using and I assume that some guys here are so into it that you carry around mini amps that give your iPod signal the necessary boost to drive your IEMs properly (which is cool
Is there a cutoff point in terms of the quality of balanced armature driver that I can get, a point beyond which I will not hear a significant difference because the unit is not driven by a decent enough amplifier, for instance the one in my Blackberry?
I realize that getting a decent set of earbuds is going to change my iPod experience, but my main concern here is the use of earbuds with the Blackberry - it has replaced my land line and now when I talk to i.e. my relatives overseas for 45 minutes the damn thing heats up and becomes really uncomfortable. Also, some overseas calls are not of the quality that my landline was, and even though I understand that it will never be that way with a cell phone, I feel like the earbuds included with the 8830 are the standard crappy ones and that I can get way better quality with a decent set of earbuds. The question is, how good a set of earbuds will the Blackberry drive?
Well, that was pretty long winded. Sorry about that.
I hope this makes sense to someone and that you guys can give me some guidance before I drop $300+ on a set of IEMs that my Blackberry won't be able to drive.
By the way I intend to match up a decent set of earbuds with the new Shure MPA-3C for cell phone use (thanks again to Jude for the reco)
Shure - Music Phone Adapter (MPA) - iPhone Compatible Adapter
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PS - what the heck is with the Westone UM3 delay (15 months??), and is it a concern for those of you thinking of buying other Westone products?