reeseboisse
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jan 3, 2004
- Posts
- 435
- Likes
- 10
In a few words, I like ‘em. Coming out of the Total Bithead that I have on loan from Headroom, one of the first things I noticed was how easily they pick up any noise and hiss. This isn’t good, since I have a very noisy sound card, and it seems that the audio coming from my USB port also has some artifacts. Shouldn’t be a problem for long, however, seeing as a Chaintech AV-710 will be mine soon enough.
As for the sound: relatively balanced, it’s a sound signature I think I can appreciate. The bass isn’t too overwhelming, but it does overpower the mids a little bit. The highs are rolled significantly, but that doesn’t bother me much, since extreme treble never was my thing. Extension on both ends isn’t extraordinary, but it certainly isn’t bad by any means. I haven’t detected much sibilance yet, but I’m fairly insensitive to that unless it’s an extreme case cough Triport cough cough. One thing I’ve noticed is that these aren’t very fast dynamically. For instance, one of my favorite test tracks is “Mt. St. Michael/St. Michael’s Mount” by Aphex Twin. In it, right at the end, he starts strobing the sound, delivering the song’s crescendo in extremely short, rapid bursts, with zero decay between them. The way I use this to test is simple; the closer that part gets me to epilepsy, the faster the dynamics of the system I’m using. The E2s definitely aren’t out of control, but I didn’t get the same response as I have with certain other setups. And, that was helped by the near silence provided by the…
Isolation and fit: When I got these (Guitar Center, $79.99), I almost immediately tried them on, just using the sleeves that were on in the package, the medium clear flex sleeves. As it turns out, these actually provide the best fit. I tried all of the tips, (including the foamies,) just to be sure, but I went right back to the medium silicons. The isolation is fantastic; I’m almost completely shut out from everything, for better or for worse.
As for the foam tips, I’ve had trouble every time I’ve tried them. I’ve tried to wear foam earplugs several times in the past, and have never really been able to make them fit correctly, regardless of how much instruction I’m given. This is also true for my friend’s Ety ER4s; I had a chance to listen to them during my search for the proper canalphones, and I tried the foamies first, since everyone has said that they’re the best. I respectfully disagree. They fell out of my ears and didn’t seal right. With the tri-flanges, however, I was able to get a great seal the first time I tried. (I’m not too scrupulous about sticking things into my ears, so I was comfortable enough to really shove them in there. And I still don’t think they have enough bass
)
And that’s what I’ve found. I’ll let them burn in for a while, then report back.
P.S. Please forgive the disjointed writing style, I just sort of crapped this out, and it’s my thoughtless first impression.
As for the sound: relatively balanced, it’s a sound signature I think I can appreciate. The bass isn’t too overwhelming, but it does overpower the mids a little bit. The highs are rolled significantly, but that doesn’t bother me much, since extreme treble never was my thing. Extension on both ends isn’t extraordinary, but it certainly isn’t bad by any means. I haven’t detected much sibilance yet, but I’m fairly insensitive to that unless it’s an extreme case cough Triport cough cough. One thing I’ve noticed is that these aren’t very fast dynamically. For instance, one of my favorite test tracks is “Mt. St. Michael/St. Michael’s Mount” by Aphex Twin. In it, right at the end, he starts strobing the sound, delivering the song’s crescendo in extremely short, rapid bursts, with zero decay between them. The way I use this to test is simple; the closer that part gets me to epilepsy, the faster the dynamics of the system I’m using. The E2s definitely aren’t out of control, but I didn’t get the same response as I have with certain other setups. And, that was helped by the near silence provided by the…
Isolation and fit: When I got these (Guitar Center, $79.99), I almost immediately tried them on, just using the sleeves that were on in the package, the medium clear flex sleeves. As it turns out, these actually provide the best fit. I tried all of the tips, (including the foamies,) just to be sure, but I went right back to the medium silicons. The isolation is fantastic; I’m almost completely shut out from everything, for better or for worse.
As for the foam tips, I’ve had trouble every time I’ve tried them. I’ve tried to wear foam earplugs several times in the past, and have never really been able to make them fit correctly, regardless of how much instruction I’m given. This is also true for my friend’s Ety ER4s; I had a chance to listen to them during my search for the proper canalphones, and I tried the foamies first, since everyone has said that they’re the best. I respectfully disagree. They fell out of my ears and didn’t seal right. With the tri-flanges, however, I was able to get a great seal the first time I tried. (I’m not too scrupulous about sticking things into my ears, so I was comfortable enough to really shove them in there. And I still don’t think they have enough bass
And that’s what I’ve found. I’ll let them burn in for a while, then report back.
P.S. Please forgive the disjointed writing style, I just sort of crapped this out, and it’s my thoughtless first impression.
