[Willber]

Just a side quip as I read in this thread a lot of people are tearing their foam ear bud covers trying to put them on. I have found that if I pre-stretch them they go on a whole lot easier. I can put a pair on earbuds in under 30 seconds. Just give them a little stretching workout before attempting. Just a thought....

Same here.
Also, it is sometimes easier to fit donuts by putting them all the way over and then securing them by pulling them towards the front.

 

[jibberish]

Also for fitting donuts, I've found it's best to pull them onto my smallest buds (a pk shell) first, which is very easy to do, which stretches them out into the proper shape. After that it's typically pretty easy to fit them on larger shell buds. I did this and had donuts on my EBX buds within a couple of minutes.

 

[ClieOS]

Thanks for the graph. Looks like quite well-behaved impedances for your measurements. With tinier winding loops on earbuds, it will probably be bumpier graphs.

Here are a few: http://www.inearmatters.net/p/measurement.html

 

[purplesun]

Here are a few: http://www.inearmatters.net/p/measurement.html

Thanks. Nice set of measurements. Didn't know rose mojito was low impedance.

EDIT: @All. IMHO, impedances only matters to me when I want to use a low-power player. If there's enough power & current-delivery in the player, I usually don't care about what I plug into it. There are many opinions about the subject, so live and let live. Peace!

 

[waynes world]

I don't trust HungryPanda, or myself. Can someone else please buy these ridiculously inexpensive buds and let me know exactly how crazy we are for liking $2.99 earbuds? I mean, I haven't done any ab'ing or anything, but I do know that I simply enjoy listening to them.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/RY4C-original-in-ear-Earphone-15mm-music-quality-sound-HIFI-Earphone-MX500-style-earphone-3-5mm/32976726281.html

Edit: so I did just find this:

Got my Ry4c today. Didn't like em tbh.
These earbuds have significantly more highs and slightly lack bass compared to Ry4s (audigy 4 pro is the source)
Nothing like vidos.

The shell feels cheaper and less comfortable than mx500, lighter and thinner. I'd better buy another Ry4s for that value

I have the RY4S UE's, so I guess I should compare with them. But without doing so, I'm not sure that I am hearing significantly more highs (it would probably irritate me if I did), and the bass seems nice to me. Regardless, that's interesting input, and my 5 minutes is up, so I'm not going to argue with you further about it lol

 

[mbwilson111]

Can someone else please buy these ridiculously inexpensive buds and let me know exactly how crazy we are for liking $2.99 earbuds?

I have the RY4C and I agree with you and HP...very enjoyable.

 

[waynes world]

There's absolutely no link between sound quality and driver impedance. If that were true, then surely the highest impedance headphone ever created would have the best sound quality ever measured, right? True, we do tend to see many high-end headphones using high impedance drivers, but that may just be as a side-effect to the design. It's always important tot remember that correlation is not the same thing as causation.

Regarding low impedance buds producing "better" bass, this is easily understood when we consider what it is that a driver is doing. All an audio file is is a set of instructions for a power amplifier as to how much power it should be outputting and when.
If we pull any track into an application such as Audacity, we will see somewhat of a waveform for each channel.
Those lines help us visualise the power that's being sent to the driver, and ultimately what the driver should be doing. All a driver does is move in and out (or forwards and backwards) as that's what causes air to move at particular frequencies, and then we perceive that as sound. When the line moves up the driver should be moving outwards, and when the line starts going down, that's the driver moving backwards.
So, the harder it is to move the driver, the harder the amplifier has to work to move the driver all the way out. As you may have noticed, easier to drive earphones can often produce better bass because the amplifier can easily deliver the power required to move the driver at the correct pace and to the correct extent. As it becomes harder to drive, the amp will start to struggle to keep up, and that's when we might hear some kind of distortion or just a lack in bass power.


Regarding the graphs for impedance and frequency, I don't have any for earbuds, but here are 3 measurements I've taken of the new Focal Stellia.
The yellow is with the amp at 0-ohms output impedance, green is at 10, and blue is at 120.
Not all drivers undergo a change in frequency response as the output impedance of an amp is increased, but many do. I suspect that this is why many people claim that headphones such as the HD600, 650, etc sound better on tube amplifiers because tube-based systems tend to have higher output-impedances. So the "improvements" they hear is most likely due to how that output impedance affects the frequency response of the driver, rather than the fact that it's a tube-based system.

That was helpful - thanks!

 

[fairx]

I have ry4c and broke it in attempt to open the shell. I have to say I don't really dig the sound. Too dull in mids high. I like my music to be snappy even if the bud is dark. 5-6khz(?) is important to me. But maybe I just got a lemon?

 

[GREQ]

There's absolutely no link between sound quality and driver impedance. If that were true, then surely the highest impedance headphone ever created would have the best sound quality ever measured, right?

Precisely.
Don't forget about diaphragm diameter, material, thickness, moulded shape, dome size and depth, ridges, driver coating or doping, magnet size, magnet strength, voice-coil weight, voice coil material, driver enclosure material and weight, rear vent count, rear vent size, damping material type, damping thickness and the interaction between all of those and the enclosure, ear pad or foam and an infinite variation on human ear dimensions. There's too many variables to make any absolute statements about audio, or what is best, because 'best' is not absolute and changes for the individual. Ears are the one body part that never stops growing, and hearing will fail over the years. Two more ever changing variables.

Just enjoy the different flavours.

 

[mbwilson111]

I have ry4c and broke it in attempt to open the shell. I have to say I don't really dig the sound. Too dull in mids high. I like my music to be snappy even if the bud is dark. 5-6khz(?) is important to me. But maybe I just got a lemon?

...or maybe the shell just doesn't fit you well. Or you just like others more. We don't have to all like the same things. I mostly like everything

Just enjoy the different flavours.

That is my philosophy.

 

[seanc6441]

Did some extended listening on my zen 2.0 for an hour yesterday and the day be at low-moderate volume...

I'm happy to say I feel fine! No more weird full ear feeling or painful hypersensitivity and the tinnitus is just forgetton background noise most days. Only a couple of testing days but for the most part I'm ok. So happy to be able to listen to music on earbuds again, such a relief. Just thought I'd share that haha.

Unfortunately that means you'll be seeing me around here more often. Sorry @waynes world

 

[groucho69]

I find it all very complicated. Hurts my brain. Not nearly as much fun as arguing!

No it isn't.

 

[JackFlash]

I recently purchased the DIY EMX500 that comes in the PK shells. It's unclear to me how these could be the same drivers as those included in the standard MX500 shell (which doesn't fit me well). I really enjoy the pair that I received, particularly with music that features an acoustic guitar and soft vocals. Does anyone have insight if this is really the MX500 or something similar? Would love to find an earbud in the PK shell that is a cross between the EMX500 and the Yincrow RW9, which don't fit me great and are a little too punchy (e.g., vocals get overpowered a bit).

 

[seanc6441]

I recently purchased the DIY EMX500 that comes in the PK shells. It's unclear to me how these could be the same drivers as those included in the standard MX500 shell (which doesn't fit me well). I really enjoy the pair that I received, particularly with music that features an acoustic guitar and soft vocals. Does anyone have insight if this is really the MX500 or something similar? Would love to find an earbud in the PK shell that is a cross between the EMX500 and the Yincrow RW9, which don't fit me great and are a little too punchy (e.g., vocals get overpowered a bit).

Not the same driver, it's oddly named the same. Nice to hear that it's good though.

 

[JackFlash]

Thanks! What I suspected. Now to find out what they really are