Could you guys coming from higher end Shure and Westone offer me some advice?
I bought Shure E3c when they came out in 2005 and have used them almost every day since then until recently. I was never really a headphone enthusiast and never tried any "good" headphones other than these, but I loved them. I bought them because I wanted good sound quality from my PMP (Rio Karma at the time, still the best I've ever had!), and they got a good review on anythingbutipod.com (lol).
Recently they cracked and it's time to replace them, and I decided to try something different, and have went through several pairs of non-IEMs and it's really shown me that IEMs are the right option for me.
I'd like another set of IEMs, ideally that would last me for 10 years like the Shures, but I would take 5. I'd consider myself more of a music enthusiast than a super-critical audiophile. Comfort and build quality are as important to me as sound.
For the past week or so I've been trying to determine if the SE846/W60 are "worth it" or if I should just go with SE535/W30/W40 and save a lot of money.
Then I see this! And it's just thrown a wrench in the whole shebang. To me it looks like BETTER than SE535/W30/W40 for less money, and POSSIBLY as good as SE846/W60 for WAY less money.
Is there any reason I should NOT get these? Even if they have 50% as good of build quality of the SE846/W60, I can just replace them if they fail and still come out ahead.
These seem really compelling and I'm ready to cop them, but I REALLY don't like regret and buyer's remorse. Is there anything I should know?
What else should I look at? I'd like something in-between what joker would call "warm and smooth" and "balanced", and excellent comfort and build quality.