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Headphoneus Supremus
well, i was on my way to class this morning and i walked by the post office on the way there; i'm in college. i intended to pick up my earphones after class...who was i kidding?! i quickly ran up to the teller window and pulled out my yellow package slip and gave her my school id. She couldn't return fast enough with a priority mail envelope that housed the precious buds of joy.
i tore open the top of the envelope and reached inside just to make sure i felt the metal box. it was there. i was ecstatic. i continued on to class with my envelope, sat in the very back of class and prepared to learn absolutely nothing about anything...but my new shure e5c's.
OK - i am sure we can all relate to the psychological hyping we do in our minds before we get something we really like. Whether it be a new car, a new tv, or new headphones. One of the funniest aspects of this, that i found to be true with my acquisition of the e5's was how SMALL the metal box was. My point is just that in imagining how amazing these would be, i imagined the metal box (as friggin' cool as it is) to be massive and possibly have a halo around it as well, or something like that.
Anyway the sound is what really matters right? Right?
Ignoring everything else going on in my economics lecture i popped these in my ear with some new yellow foamies, which took about 10 minutes. I am not an idiot, but after the ease of the e3's, getting these things into my ear was like doing a mini-jigsaw puzzle, using my ears as my eyes. (I am sure this will become second nature in a few days, but these are initial impressions
)
By now, i am sure at least some of you have read about how the reason i got the e5's and sold the e3's was because i lost hearing in my right ear for 3 days by pushing the volume too loud on my ipod in an effort to get satisfactory bass out of the e3's.
There were 2 specific songs (tiesto's "in my memory" and one of his "essential mixes") that i rushed to hear. these were the culprit songs most responsible for my temporary hearing loss. This was it...
As "in my memory" began, there is a cymbal buildup about 15 seconds in, right before the bass line comes in. The cymbal entrance on the e3's built to a shrieking pain. The e5's, while retaining all the detail of the cymbal kept it under control and absolutely painless. Good start. As the bass came in, I would not say I was blown away, (this is out of an ipod remember, so being blown away is not necessarily to be expected) but I was more than pleasantly surprised to hear EVERY bass note cleanly and audibly. If you were another student sitting in the lecture hall and you happened to turn around as i was experiencing this, you would have seen a smile begin to permeate across my face as the bass kicked in. There was this level of satisfaction that I experienced at this point that almost cannot be explained. Like, i had found what i had been looking for and i never wanted to be without it again, ever.
i listened for a few more minutes to Tiesto's "in my memory" and then put on John Mayer's "no such thing." Immediately i could hear a subtle yet undeniable increase in the quality of the music across the spectrum. Instrument separation was greater and the clarity was as sweet (yes, sweet is a technical term) as i could ask for. It was as if everything that was good about the e3's had been refined and subtly improved. There is an organ playing in the background towards the middle of this song, (which i never knew about until i got my e3's) with the e5's the organ was separated out and even clearer and more audible than on the e3's.
Overall, the entire spectrum from the lowest low to the highest high was absolutely silky smooth. In the time i spent listening to the e3's, i learned to take note of the shrill points in the music and brace for them seconds before they arrived. Being conditioned to this, i did the same thing while listening to the e5's, however each time i cringed prematurely, my ears were greeted by a pleasing and moderated high and smooth sound. What happened to the shrieking? I don't know, but i just hope it never returns.
Upon returning back to my dorm, i loaded on the triflange sleeves (which i had ordered a few weeks ago) and fired up tiesto's "essential mix." The triflanges (which have been cut to even the stalk with the largest flange,) sounded even better than the foams. It is absolutely necessary to get a proper seal with these, as it is possible to have the triflanges a mm twisted the wrong way in your ear and end up with almost no sound out of each earphone, weird. But once these were in place, the sound i was hearing bordered on unbelievable. This was a crappy mp3 and it sounded stunning to say the least. it was truly remarkable.
Well, these are just initial impressions, but by now i think you can guess whether or not i am glad i have moved on from the e3's.
One last thing i'd like to say that i confidently feel represents wholly how i feel about the e3's compared to the e5's, even from just my initial impression is this:
with the e3's i found frequently that when playing music they were being pushed to their limits and sometimes couldn't handle the volume or fullness of the music i pushed through them without sounding in some way or another, "out of control. with the e5's it's almost as if you just expect them to handle everything you throw at them and despite your certainty they will, they impress you every time at how damn fine a job they actually do.
EDIT: i am listening with the triflanges right now, and i think i want to change that comment i made earlier about "not being blown away by the bass" (which i wrote after using the foams.)
Using the triflanges, i AM in fact blown away. it is just so smooth...oh my.
There is absolutely NO HISS/BUZZ at any volume on my second gen ipod; even with no music playing. The linear smoothness of the entire spectrum at ANY volume, even at the absolute lowest setting is remarkable and something i SORELY MISSED with the e3's. The bass gets progressively louder as it should as the volume is raised, remaining (i'm gonna say it again) smooth as silk and perfectly balanced with the rest of the spectrum. Even at the lowest volume setting the bass is balanced and THERE. wow.
more to come...
i tore open the top of the envelope and reached inside just to make sure i felt the metal box. it was there. i was ecstatic. i continued on to class with my envelope, sat in the very back of class and prepared to learn absolutely nothing about anything...but my new shure e5c's.
OK - i am sure we can all relate to the psychological hyping we do in our minds before we get something we really like. Whether it be a new car, a new tv, or new headphones. One of the funniest aspects of this, that i found to be true with my acquisition of the e5's was how SMALL the metal box was. My point is just that in imagining how amazing these would be, i imagined the metal box (as friggin' cool as it is) to be massive and possibly have a halo around it as well, or something like that.
Anyway the sound is what really matters right? Right?
Ignoring everything else going on in my economics lecture i popped these in my ear with some new yellow foamies, which took about 10 minutes. I am not an idiot, but after the ease of the e3's, getting these things into my ear was like doing a mini-jigsaw puzzle, using my ears as my eyes. (I am sure this will become second nature in a few days, but these are initial impressions
By now, i am sure at least some of you have read about how the reason i got the e5's and sold the e3's was because i lost hearing in my right ear for 3 days by pushing the volume too loud on my ipod in an effort to get satisfactory bass out of the e3's.
There were 2 specific songs (tiesto's "in my memory" and one of his "essential mixes") that i rushed to hear. these were the culprit songs most responsible for my temporary hearing loss. This was it...
As "in my memory" began, there is a cymbal buildup about 15 seconds in, right before the bass line comes in. The cymbal entrance on the e3's built to a shrieking pain. The e5's, while retaining all the detail of the cymbal kept it under control and absolutely painless. Good start. As the bass came in, I would not say I was blown away, (this is out of an ipod remember, so being blown away is not necessarily to be expected) but I was more than pleasantly surprised to hear EVERY bass note cleanly and audibly. If you were another student sitting in the lecture hall and you happened to turn around as i was experiencing this, you would have seen a smile begin to permeate across my face as the bass kicked in. There was this level of satisfaction that I experienced at this point that almost cannot be explained. Like, i had found what i had been looking for and i never wanted to be without it again, ever.
i listened for a few more minutes to Tiesto's "in my memory" and then put on John Mayer's "no such thing." Immediately i could hear a subtle yet undeniable increase in the quality of the music across the spectrum. Instrument separation was greater and the clarity was as sweet (yes, sweet is a technical term) as i could ask for. It was as if everything that was good about the e3's had been refined and subtly improved. There is an organ playing in the background towards the middle of this song, (which i never knew about until i got my e3's) with the e5's the organ was separated out and even clearer and more audible than on the e3's.
Overall, the entire spectrum from the lowest low to the highest high was absolutely silky smooth. In the time i spent listening to the e3's, i learned to take note of the shrill points in the music and brace for them seconds before they arrived. Being conditioned to this, i did the same thing while listening to the e5's, however each time i cringed prematurely, my ears were greeted by a pleasing and moderated high and smooth sound. What happened to the shrieking? I don't know, but i just hope it never returns.
Upon returning back to my dorm, i loaded on the triflange sleeves (which i had ordered a few weeks ago) and fired up tiesto's "essential mix." The triflanges (which have been cut to even the stalk with the largest flange,) sounded even better than the foams. It is absolutely necessary to get a proper seal with these, as it is possible to have the triflanges a mm twisted the wrong way in your ear and end up with almost no sound out of each earphone, weird. But once these were in place, the sound i was hearing bordered on unbelievable. This was a crappy mp3 and it sounded stunning to say the least. it was truly remarkable.
Well, these are just initial impressions, but by now i think you can guess whether or not i am glad i have moved on from the e3's.
One last thing i'd like to say that i confidently feel represents wholly how i feel about the e3's compared to the e5's, even from just my initial impression is this:
with the e3's i found frequently that when playing music they were being pushed to their limits and sometimes couldn't handle the volume or fullness of the music i pushed through them without sounding in some way or another, "out of control. with the e5's it's almost as if you just expect them to handle everything you throw at them and despite your certainty they will, they impress you every time at how damn fine a job they actually do.
EDIT: i am listening with the triflanges right now, and i think i want to change that comment i made earlier about "not being blown away by the bass" (which i wrote after using the foams.)
Using the triflanges, i AM in fact blown away. it is just so smooth...oh my.
There is absolutely NO HISS/BUZZ at any volume on my second gen ipod; even with no music playing. The linear smoothness of the entire spectrum at ANY volume, even at the absolute lowest setting is remarkable and something i SORELY MISSED with the e3's. The bass gets progressively louder as it should as the volume is raised, remaining (i'm gonna say it again) smooth as silk and perfectly balanced with the rest of the spectrum. Even at the lowest volume setting the bass is balanced and THERE. wow.
more to come...
