[shigzeo]

i had the um2 - then sold them after getting the atrio. both are good. the um2 isolates more and is much more mid oriented. the atrio i think are quite a bit more nuetral sounding though they have massive bass. they extend far and are nice and dry, not artificial sweetenig sound.

but um2 are very sensitive: they will hiss inside the vacuum of space. as well, they are armatures based phones: which tend to be so detailed and right near your ear drum. if you are at all sensitive they will give you headaches. er4s, e500 and um2, all of which were more expensive than my atrios gave me instant headaches or fatigue but the atrios did not until many hours later.

the way they move is much more like a headphone or speaker where you can hear the materials of the driver impact the music rather than just the sound. in other words, they resemble the sound we are used to listening.

 

[Solan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by shigzeo /img/forum/go_quote.gif i had the um2 - then sold them after getting the atrio. both are good. the um2 isolates more and is much more mid oriented. the atrio i think are quite a bit more nuetral sounding though they have massive bass. they extend far and are nice and dry, not artificial sweetenig sound.

Thank you, shigzeo. How does this change if you change the tip? I have gotten the impression that the Shure olives are the most comfy and best isolating tips.

 

[ricthaman]

well....

I think I'll hace to be carefull with my Atrio's. I auditioned some SE530's today and yesterday and damn.... it feels like my ears still hurt.

They have their serious strenghts but their flaws are just unbarable.

Bass is no real bass. It's there and punchy but sounds too artificial and ''small''. Mids are clear but too prominent at times and screamy..
The highs can be very sharp but also harsh at times which I absolutely hate.


They had their fair strengths. The drums could hit very hard, I think due to the mids.

I listened at first and thought wow..... then I became to see more and more flaws and eventually went like ''ahhh this hurts and ahhh this sounds messy''

So I don't think the armatures are for me.

I now love my Atrio's even more!

Greetz

 

[Solan]

How are the Atrios when you are working out? Like jogging, rowing or other endurance activities. Especially compared to the UM2.

 

[jinx20001]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ricthaman /img/forum/go_quote.gif well.... I think I'll hace to be carefull with my Atrio's. I auditioned some SE530's today and yesterday and damn.... it feels like my ears still hurt. They have their serious strenghts but their flaws are just unbarable. Bass is no real bass. It's there and punchy but sounds too artificial and ''small''. Mids are clear but too prominent at times and screamy.. The highs can be very sharp but also harsh at times which I absolutely hate. They had their fair strengths. The drums could hit very hard, I think due to the mids. I listened at first and thought wow..... then I became to see more and more flaws and eventually went like ''ahhh this hurts and ahhh this sounds messy'' So I don't think the armatures are for me. I now love my Atrio's even more! Greetz

bass is bass and will always appear harder hitting with dynamic drivers, we all know even the best armatures dont hit hard its all about detail. se530 has plenty of bass but the atrio's have spoiled your ears rotton with bass. they really must have if you think the se530 have harsh highs

from your impressions of the se530 you will seriously not like anything else because the atrio's have maybe the most bass available in IEM's alongside super fi 5 pro and EB's.

it certainly sounds like your not an armature man, but would you have loved your atrio's as much if you had owned the triple fi or se530 first?...i dont think so.everybody becomes acustomed to the sound they get used to and if you had owned any other headphones you may have been overwhelmed with atrio's bass.

i can guarantee almost everybody will be dissapointed with headphones on first listen due to this fact of being used to your personal set, but given enough listening time this certainly passes.

EDIT: dont get me wrong tho im with you, i loveeeeee bass and the atrio's are certainly special in this department

 

[shigzeo]

olives? i did not use them. i used the shure black shiny spongy ones that never die. best isolation from the atrio for me but... the sound is much darker that way. i prefer actually the stock earpieces though they are hard to situate and make the phone stick out like reversing your thumbs.

all phones in the pricerange are good and you may find that you like another maker better. i am merely sharing my experience. i went for a llong time from sony ex51 to um2 to e500 (only borrowed for a long time) then to er4s (best but worst of the armatures. loved the sense of speed but hated how my ears felt they were being pricked by hamster claws) then to atrio.

atrio were the biggest eye opener especially as i came to headfi as a reader in 2004 or 2003 and was under impression that more meant better. so more drivers, more money and more people saying shure or westone was better. atrio woke me up to hear the sound of headphones in an iem rather than the sound of a garage band in an iem.

however, in the end, i did sell them for only one reason: the same reason that led me to sell my d2. my favourite music is very demanding. trance means that if the portable cannot drive well, the msuic gets boomy and muddy as it is fast and most portables do not drive well iems and canals.

the atrio was not as hard to drive as my prior ex51 but the d2 did not do too well and the meizu hissed too much. im happy with my ipod nano 3g now and an impedence adapter but one thing that the atrio did not do well was make the bass or low mids echo and decay quickly. it echoed straight i guess from the plastic housing.

everything else was and still is perfect. but the tips make the sound either dark or light.

 

[syed786]

so what did u sold atrio for or u just did ot like the sound and wanted to get rid of them

 

[syed786]

does any one know how sennheiser ie-7 compares sound wise

 

[ricthaman]

jinx20001:

I know that the armatures are not known for the immerive bass.
I think I might like the shures if I had the before the Atrio's.

I'm just not used to the bright sound of armatures. I still found the upper-mid to highs harsh. I'm very sensitive to harshness.

The SE530's were pretty impressive IEM's but just not my thing. I think I just have to stick to dynamic for a while.

I'd love to try the Triple.fi's one day though, but I guess the only high-end dynamic IEM other then the Atrio is the sony MDR-EX700. I guess as far as dynamic IEM's go the saying is right; it's very lonely at the top

Thx for the input.

Greetz

 

[dfkt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ricthaman /img/forum/go_quote.gif well.... I think I'll hace to be carefull with my Atrio's. I auditioned some SE530's today and yesterday and damn.... it feels like my ears still hurt. They have their serious strenghts but their flaws are just unbarable. Bass is no real bass. It's there and punchy but sounds too artificial and ''small''. Mids are clear but too prominent at times and screamy.. The highs can be very sharp but also harsh at times which I absolutely hate. They had their fair strengths. The drums could hit very hard, I think due to the mids. I listened at first and thought wow..... then I became to see more and more flaws and eventually went like ''ahhh this hurts and ahhh this sounds messy'' So I don't think the armatures are for me. I now love my Atrio's even more! Greetz

I agree with the bass part of the SE530. I have the dynamic Atrios, triple-armature SE530, and the twin-armature q-Jays... of course the Atrio's bass is in a league of its own, but the funny thing is that the tiny twin armature q-Jays actually have better "real" bass than the huge SE530 (which contain double the amount of bass armatures compared to the q-Jays). The q-Jays go down to 20Hz without breaking a sweat (same as the Atrios), while the SE530 crap out around 40-50Hz. Really funny reading the "18Hz-19kHz" specs on Shure's website... they probably forgot to imply a +/- 24dB margin with that.

 

[shigzeo]

the only thing i did not like was that with trance, they had a plastic echo on fast bass.

but still despite that, better than any other iem i have heard. i have the victor hp-fx500 which is in many areas trumped by the atrio but for trance, it is unstoppable. it does not isolate nor have sweat resistant design nore phenomenal bass (merely almost phenomenal).

for proper iems, the atrio is by far my favourite phone. if i include canals, then the picture changes. it is good to see companies focus on high quality dynammics now though. i think that futuresonics really opened the way for that market. and i am glad. i am considering the customs on the futuresonics for later.

 

[ricthaman]

@ dfkt:
hoe would hou compare the qjay to the shures and atrios?
I really would give armatures another fair chance.

Thx in advance!!!

Greetz

 

[dfkt]

Ricthaman,

My favorite IEM would have the Atrio's bass, the SE530's mids, and the q-Jays' treble... if only something like this existed. Maybe the UE11?

The Atrios have lots of good bass, the q-Jays have less quantity but maybe even slightly better quality. It's textured and refined, and it reaches damn low, it's never boomy or boxy. And the q-Jays respond well to good EQs or Cowon's BBE Mach3Bass, so they are capable of producing a respectable amount of bass. The SE530 don't reach as low, they're rolled-off, but the bass quality above 40Hz is quite fine as well.

Midrange-wise is where the SE530 have the best precision, punch, and attack speed. The Atrios sound slightly muddy in comparison. The q-Jays are close to the SE530, but not quite the same great midrange. The q-Jays have more recessed midrange than the SE530 or Atrios, though.

Treble of the q-Jays might be a bit too much if you're used to the Atrios, HD650, or other "mellow/laid-back" phones, but the q-Jays sparkle and shine like no other IEM, and I personally don't find them overly fatiguing. Treble quantity of the Atrios and SE530 is about the same, but the SE530 might be a tiny bit more detailed. The Atrios sound a bit less "harsh" than the SE530, maybe, but that's probably why the SE530 sound more detailed.

Soundstage of the SE530 and Atrios is about equally good - the q-Jays are slightly more narrow, but still very good considering their tiny form factor.

Here's how I would characterize them with some stupid words and phrases (and of course "IMO")

-
Atrio = fun, exciting, smooth
SE530 = polite, precise, somewhere between smooth and analytic
q-Jays = precise, exciting, fun, analytic

Hope that helps, cheers!

 

[dfkt]

BTW, here's my reviews of the Atrio and q-Jays... the SE530 review should follow in a few days.

Future Sonics Atrio M5 / M8 Review

JAYS q-JAYS Review

 

[ricthaman]

hehehe dfkt,

That's funny. I was just reading that review and thougt I'd better look back to this thread to see what you already said about it here.....

Great review!! All the reviews btw

It's my number 1 review when it comes to the Q-jays.

It makes things even more difficult for me now since I've found a store here in the netherlands that sells them for 179 euros. Not bad price at all. Though I'm a bit scared since my experience with the Shure's......

any tips?

greetz