ES2 vs. E500 - Custom vs. Universal

[wakeride74]

I've been playing with the idea of going custom for a while now but the E500 has me in a holding pattern. I love the sound of the UM2 and have considered the ES2 as an upgrade for fit/seal and sonic reasons.

I know custom is better than universal but the warmth, detail, and other qualities people are raving about with the E500 has me very curious.... damn you head-fi!

Is there anyone that has heard the E500 and the ES2 and can offer some opinions on their differences and/or similarities?

If I sold my UM2's and canceled my E500 order the ES2 could be mine, or I could wait and test the E500 and the UM2 together... selling or returning one of the two. I can't afford both ES2 and E500 or I would

 

[grawk]

That's where I am. UM2s in hand, E500s on preorder. If when the E500s get here and I like them, I order custom inserts. If not, I sell them and get ES2s...

 

[wakeride74]

Quote:

Originally Posted by grawk That's where I am. UM2s in hand, E500s on preorder. If when the E500s get here and I like them, I order custom inserts. If not, I sell them and get ES2s...

I didn't know you could get custom tips for Shure, how much??

Anyone heard both of these....anyone

 

[grawk]

Westone's guy on headfi (p0wderhound I think his username is) said they'd come up with one once they're able to get their hands on E500s. I'd guess about the same as the other molds, $100.

 

[arielext]

All i can say is that the quality of the ES2 surpasses the UM2 by a long shot! No more fussing around with tips, foams or what else is new, those customs will last long enough (at least I hope so). I have the ES2 for about a year now and no hear on my head is thinking about going back universal, shure, westone or who else!

 

[dvallere]

That's interesting because sonically I couldn't tell the diff between UM2 and ES2. Yeah, the ES2 was a little easier because of no tips, but for the price difference, I'll fiddle with tips any day!

 

[catscratch]

In my experience, the difference between the UM2 and ES2 is night and day. I would never have guessed that the two share the same drivers. The ES2 is much closer sonically to the Ety ER-4S but without it's sonic faults (i.e. overly bright, peaky treble, lacking deep bass, shortened transients, etc). It's a much crisper, drier sound than the UM2.

My biggest complaint with the ES2 is the extreme difficulty in finding a matching DAP. The ES2 is very sensitive to hiss, and the two DAPs that synergize the best in terms of tonal balance (Kenwood HD20GA7 and iRiver iHP-120) are both too hissy for it, while the cleaner DAP's (X5, 5G iPod) are too bright. Trying to get rid of the hiss with resistors makes unamped use impossible. If you're going for an amped rig, then the ES2 will work very well, especially with a warm sounding amp (the Hornet is very good here). But even here, you'll have to use a beefy resistor if you don't want to deal with too much gain from your amp.

The bottom line is, the ES2 is a professional product first and an audiophile product second, if at all. It sounds great - far better than any other IEM that I've ever heard (never heard the E500 though) - but you have to jump through burning hoops to get it to work in your portable system.

ATM I'm using it with the iHP-120, hiss and all.

 

[Romanee]

I just received my new ES2 which I'm using with a 4G iPod 40GB, both unamped and also amped with either Ray Samuel's Hornet or a new Portaphile PV2^2-LT1210 -- both thoroughly burned in and sounding excellent with smooth, unfatiguing highs and ample if less than well-defined low frequencies (the Portaphile with good headphones has extremely well-defined LF and very extended HF).

The Hornet of course (as been posted enuf times) has too much gain even at the "low gain" setting, but very little hiss. The Portaphile has severe hiss and I'll be trying the low gain setting tomorrow when I find time to change the internal dip switches.

[size=small]Is there a preferred/recommended attenuator (impedance matcher...) for these components -- brand/model/impedance, etc.?

Thanks.[/size]

BTW -- so far mine seem to be a very good fit (slightlyl better seal on left0, especially since I have very narrow somewhat twisty ear canals. No serious problems with insertion/removal using "oto-ease" lubricant.

 

[arielext]

Quote:

Originally Posted by catscratch In my experience, the difference between the UM2 and ES2 is night and day. I would never have guessed that the two share the same drivers. The ES2 is much closer sonically to the Ety ER-4S but without it's sonic faults (i.e. overly bright, peaky treble, lacking deep bass, shortened transients, etc). It's a much crisper, drier sound than the UM2. My biggest complaint with the ES2 is the extreme difficulty in finding a matching DAP. The ES2 is very sensitive to hiss, and the two DAPs that synergize the best in terms of tonal balance (Kenwood HD20GA7 and iRiver iHP-120) are both too hissy for it, while the cleaner DAP's (X5, 5G iPod) are too bright. Trying to get rid of the hiss with resistors makes unamped use impossible. If you're going for an amped rig, then the ES2 will work very well, especially with a warm sounding amp (the Hornet is very good here). But even here, you'll have to use a beefy resistor if you don't want to deal with too much gain from your amp. The bottom line is, the ES2 is a professional product first and an audiophile product second, if at all. It sounds great - far better than any other IEM that I've ever heard (never heard the E500 though) - but you have to jump through burning hoops to get it to work in your portable system. ATM I'm using it with the iHP-120, hiss and all.

ES2 with X5 sounds like heaven to me (with a bit of help: mach3bass at 8, bbe at 2), same with the corda aria, which gives me thé best I have heard yet, while the UM2's where to dark.