[fvvxflakes]

Hey guys,

My latest pair of etys broke and since overseas shipping charges for etys are exorbitant, I decided to get shure 215se as a quick replacement. Boy, what a big loss on treble and detail. Now, I use em with my Samsung galaxy s4 unamped. What can I do to get back that detail? I mostly listen to electronica.

Should I buy a amp player? or are there cheaper unamped alternatives in the market now that provide isolation and crisp detail of the hf3's? Thanks.

 

[mark2410]

What can I do to get back that detail?
 
sorry but buy another hf3.  there are ways to get the same detail level but with ety levels of isolation too, well only really etys and their brain implant depth can do that.
 
still, an se215 and hf3 are very complimentary iems to have given their exceedingly divergent natures

 

[fvvxflakes]

Cheers.
 
I finally understood why going SE210 -> HF3 was not a great deal, other than the fact that it was revealing greater amounts of detail. Then going from HF3 -> SE215 revealed such a big drop in the detail and treble. All thanks to this article: http://splurgebook.wordpress.com/2011/02/21/everything-you-need-to-know-about-iems/ 
 
So I basically went from BA drivers to Dynamics which gives greater lower bass range but kills the details. Next, I like EDM music which combines both huge prolonged low bass and lots of really sharp details. The ideal system would be a speaker for each range: woofer, mids and tweets. Unfortunately, I have only a single IEM driver which may not be fast enough cover all that range and hence the loss of treble. Basically I can't have everything but I definitely learnt that I enjoy the details that EDM synthesizes.
 
Now that I know what I know, the question is:
 
If I were to go back to HF3 territory and I want greater detail, what is a good-value-for-money upgrade (from HF3) without amping ? Why no amp? I can't go for a walk holding both an amp and a phone.
 
Also, recently, I was a friends place with dynaudios and I was blown by the speed response of his system. You can feel the sharpness of all the various notes or any impulse. Thanks for the recommendation.

 

[mark2410]

whats a value for money upgrade without amping?
 
hmmm quality wise the hf3 is really very good.  since amping is out looking at really easy to drive and im thiking maybe the DN-2000.  im not very sure what you mean by hf3 territory though.  you mean high isolation, bright / "neutral" sound sig?
 
if its the sound sig you could try to find an RE-272 but again it really likes an amp but it should still best the hf3 out of a phone.
 
(also, its not entirely because of the drivers used.  the IE8, RE-0 and RE-272 are all dynamics and have hf3 besting treble.  its just that a common want is tons of bass and a dynamic can do that better than a single BA can so single dynamics tend to be tuned for bass and warmth.)

 

[shureThing]

Perhaps the logical upgrade to the HF-series is the ER-4 series? They're supposed to be pretty much the same IEM but with stricter quality control imposed on the latter. Some people on Head-Fi mention that the ER-series sounds more 'musical' and 'coherent', but the differences shouldn't be day-and-night.

 

[mark2410]

tbh the diff between the tf3 and ER4 are very small, unless your using a good amp the difference will be so tiny as to be negligible.

 

[gradofan1]

  tbh the diff between the tf3 and ER4 are very small, unless your using a good amp the difference will be so tiny as to be negligible.

I might've gotten a defective HF3, but I think they're no contest to the ER4-PT. However, I've heard that HF3's are very similar drivers bulk made in china while ER4's are handmade in the US by Etymotic, hence the price difference. 

 

[mark2410]

its possible.  the big diff between the hf3 and ER4 is the ER4 undergoes very stringing matching, the hf3 i believe they just slap the drivers in.  which to be fair to ety is pretty much what i believe all IEM makers do. (of course some get tested for quality control but not all as a rule)