Sorry illquid, but I'm going to have to strongly disagree with you on the S4. I noticed these have gotten a bunch of attention on the interweb. Cnet.com even awarded them the best earphone's editor's choice nani nani blah blah award, but these simply don't deserve the attention. I might add the cnet tech editor, Jasmine France, who has done most of the headphone reviews might be pretty cute in the idealized "nerdy but still marginally girl next door hot" kind of way (O.K. she looks like one of my ex girlfriends, so I'm a fan), but her assessment of headphones is pretty suspect (and I know this because I've read/watched all her reviews... what?!? a pretty girl talking about headphones... That's grade-A entertainment!). edit: I just noticed on her profile it say "former" senior associate editor. Looks like the CBS media conglomerate (like so many others these days) replaced a staff editor with a cheaper freelancer. That would explain the Steve Guttenberg dude. Blah, sorry Steve, but despite your obvious extensive knowledge of headphones, you've completely lost my demographic.
Anyway, the s4 is not what you're looking for mostly because the frequency response is tuned with extremly bloated bass, shrill treble, and mids so recessed you'd think your ears were stuffed with cotton. Guitars are dull, vocals are hollow, snare drums and high hats are bland as British cuisine. These are not meant for rock. Pop music, hip-hop and rap are probably O.K. and I can see these being good as exercise buds because they're very in-your-face. But for casual listening, the signature is so annoying and fatiguing that it ruins the enjoyment of the music (did I mention they're terribly siblilant as well?). If you want a more detailed review search the forum for ClieOS's assement. Also, ljokerl reviewed these in his massive thread but I think he inflated the rating as not to be flamed to hell by the FOTM crowd.
These retail in the US for $79 USD(53 pound on Amazon UK).I purchased mine on sale for $50 USD shipped, and I still think I overpayed. If you can find them for around $30 USD (like the pro media version) then they might be worth buying, but I'd still rather put that money towards a better pair. Honestly, the $9 --$20 Meelec m6 is about 80% as good as the s4 for far less money.
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Anyway, Sorry for the rant ... on to the recommendation. I looked at your lastfm artists and it seems you listen to roughly the same music I do (btw, check out somafm.com, the indiepoprocks, poptron, and tag's trip stations are right up your alley). Thus, I think I can offer decent advice on a
closed portable can or IEM that is around 50 pound.
Wow, searching on Amazon.uk, I see some of these American and Japanese brands are quite expensive in the U.K. I mean 90 pound for a grado sr60! Jesus! ath-fc700 is 100 pound? insane! And forget about shure/westone...
I'd say, if you want a sonic upgrade, you'll have to strech your budget a little, and/or settle for something that is a bit larger sized. A good example of a larger can would be the mdr v6 which is 57 pound (love these for indie rock, a tad bright, and vocals are intentionaly empahsized (a plus in my view for indie) -- as these are purpose built for tracking vocals., plus the bass is there and tight... enough, but not that boomy). The short coiled cable on the mdr-v6 might be a pain when walking, but when sitting on a bus/metro it's harmless (I've worn mine plenty of times on the NY subway ... as a circumaural, the isolation is better than the px200, but not to the point where you'll lose your bearings). No points for style though, unless you're a bit of a hipster and can pull off the retro look. These things are decidely aged in design -- like 30 year aged.
Moving Along.... Sorry, but many of the usual suspects are simply way expensive in the UK.. I can't really think of a good ~50
pound portable closed can that is significantly better than the px200 ... Except for the px200-II which is likely to be your best bet. I think these are
brilliant for indie rock (beautiful mids make guitars sing, vocals are sweet, snare drums have nice impact, bass is there but doesn't overpower everything), having owned the previous version I can tell you the new model is much improved. These sound about 87% as good as my top recommendation which would be ...
... A nice entry level IEM from Etymotic. Unfortunately, the UK prices seem pretty inflated. The only thing close to your budget is the 55 pound MC5, which is only O.K. Despite how Etymotic markets it as 85% acurate, I find it weaker than the older er6/6i (which is the same or cheaper than the mc5 on amazon.com, but costs more on amazon.uk). Listening to Indie rock on Etys is a dream. It's a very personal (aka small soundstage) experience and you really lose yourself in a sonic bubble lined with the layers of detail. You'd be mental/touched/daft not to at least consider these when choosing an IEM in the under 100 pound range. But unless you can find them for cheaper elsewhere, or strech your budget to 75 pound for the HF5, these are not an option.
Still,
you'd be just fine getting the px200-II. Besides the sound, they've improved the construction and cable, so hopefully they'll last you a bit longer than your px200. If you want to spend a bit more, then I'd suggest the v6. Also around the same price as the v6 is the re0 (58 pound) which is an IEM that is often compared to the top etymotic iem, the er4. I've never tried it so I can't vouch for it. Hopefully someone else can chime in with some more IEM recommendations. I have to admit, I stopped looking for under $200 USD IEMs after I tried the etys.
And to bring everything full circle, Señor Steve would at least partially agree:
http://news.cnet.com/audiophiliac/
Quote:
As far as iems go, Klipsch Image S4s. Cheap, portable, great sound quality for that price range. They are light, and the fit is much more comfortable than other low priced universals. Cool to wear over the ear or normal. Great bass extension and does a good job on everything else.
Difficult to say whether headphones would be better than these earphones. But would be noticeably better than the CX300. You would definitely struggle to find any iem better in the £50 price mark.
£53 delivered from amazon.co.uk
