[flamingantichimp]

Anyone have iPod EQ tips?

I use the "Latin" setting.

 

[MD1032]

New impressions after use at school today!

I already get some weird looks by wearing my MX400's over the ear, but when I wore these today man even the bus security dudes thought I was alien or something!

Isolation is the most amazing thing ever. I'm running around between lots of noisy parked running buses and people are screaming and stuff and so it gets kind of noisy. The isolation is fantastic. It makes a world of difference. I could listen to classical if I wanted to with these in!! Once on the bus, I was nearly falling asleep listening to my music and nothing else for once. OK, I'll admit the silicon sleeves don't block THAT much, but they do make a significant difference.

Insertion is getting easier, but is still awkward at first. You have to find the exact precise angle to push them into your head at, otherwise nothing happens and you can tell when you haven't gotten a seal, believe me.

The sound at this point to be perfectly honest isn't very close to what I'd like it to be. The punch is just not there. Bass boost 1 just blows everything out of proportion and isn't the best thing to use. The volume control is only at 8/30 on my MZ-S1 right now and to be honest, a confortable level is actually around 7.5 or so, but the S1 doesn't have that. I wish these things had a higher impedance. The mids are quite grainy compared to my Grados. It's really not very good at all. (rob needs to hear a pair of real headphones) Same can be said for the highs. Maybe burn-in will help, I'm guessing it will, and I'm contacting ch0mp right now to ask him how long he used these and if he used them for >50 hours well I guess this is what I'm stuck with. Still, the isolation here is totally worth it.

Portability will probably get better. The Shure case is very awkward to use compared to the MX400 wind-up case. You have to hold the wires down while winding, otherwise your wires will become loose and just kind of unravel on their own. Basically, you have to keep a tight grip on the sucker if you want to wind it right. The E2c's also don't tend to want to stay down in the center and the L-plug just barely fits with them in the middle. The case has nice aesthetics and good build quality, but that's it. I'll experiment and see if I can somehow rig up something else of my own design.

rnb40256247246246, I'm sure you won't have any problems with durability. These things are built like rocks. The casing is REALLY thick, I don't know how a guy managed to crack his casing...must have run over them with a car.

As for the soft sleeves, I am really really interested, but obviously I'd want a pair of the small, not mediums. The medium flex sleeves don't even come close to fitting, and the small ones are a squeeze.

edit: LOL! Look at the first picture, the one of the box. Notice the "MP3 READY" branded onto a generic MP3 player strangely resembling the ipod. How completely bogus.

 

[kramer5150]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MD1032 New impressions after use at school today! I already get some weird looks by wearing my MX400's over the ear, but when I wore these today man even the bus security dudes thought I was alien or something! Isolation is the most amazing thing ever. I'm running around between lots of noisy parked running buses and people are screaming and stuff and so it gets kind of noisy. The isolation is fantastic. It makes a world of difference. I could listen to classical if I wanted to with these in!! Once on the bus, I was nearly falling asleep listening to my music and nothing else for once. OK, I'll admit the silicon sleeves don't block THAT much, but they do make a significant difference. Insertion is getting easier, but is still awkward at first. You have to find the exact precise angle to push them into your head at, otherwise nothing happens and you can tell when you haven't gotten a seal, believe me. The sound at this point to be perfectly honest isn't very close to what I'd like it to be. The punch is just not there. Bass boost 1 just blows everything out of proportion and isn't the best thing to use. The volume control is only at 8/30 on my MZ-S1 right now and to be honest, a confortable level is actually around 7.5 or so, but the S1 doesn't have that. I wish these things had a higher impedance. The mids are quite grainy compared to my Grados. It's really not very good at all. (rob needs to hear a pair of real headphones) Same can be said for the highs. Maybe burn-in will help, I'm guessing it will, and I'm contacting ch0mp right now to ask him how long he used these and if he used them for >50 hours well I guess this is what I'm stuck with. Still, the isolation here is totally worth it. Portability will probably get better. The Shure case is very awkward to use compared to the MX400 wind-up case. You have to hold the wires down while winding, otherwise your wires will become loose and just kind of unravel on their own. Basically, you have to keep a tight grip on the sucker if you want to wind it right. The E2c's also don't tend to want to stay down in the center and the L-plug just barely fits with them in the middle. The case has nice aesthetics and good build quality, but that's it. I'll experiment and see if I can somehow rig up something else of my own design. rnb40256247246246, I'm sure you won't have any problems with durability. These things are built like rocks. The casing is REALLY thick, I don't know how a guy managed to crack his casing...must have run over them with a car. As for the soft sleeves, I am really really interested, but obviously I'd want a pair of the small, not mediums. The medium flex sleeves don't even come close to fitting, and the small ones are a squeeze. edit: LOL! Look at the first picture, the one of the box. Notice the "MP3 READY" branded onto a generic MP3 player strangely resembling the ipod. How completely bogus.

If youre expecting Grado slam, presence and smoothness from an e2c you will be disapointed. Burn in will bring out more highs, lows and mellow out the mids a little and make them a little less harsh... but that in-your face presence is unique to grado IMHO. IMHO KSC75s are closer to the Grado signature than the e2c. The e2c has a somewhat melow un-fatigue-ing signature.

IMHO regular listening for 3-4 weeks wont burn in an e2c... you gotta blast em with sine sweeps at unlistenably loud volumes.

My oppinions of course, YMMV

Garrett

 

[MD1032]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kramer5150 If youre expecting Grado slam, presence and smoothness from an e2c you will be disapointed. Burn in will bring out more highs, lows and mellow out the mids a little and make them a little less harsh... but that in-your face presence is unique to grado IMHO. IMHO KSC75s are closer to the Grado signature than the e2c. The e2c has a somewhat melow un-fatigue-ing signature. IMHO regular listening for 3-4 weeks wont burn in an e2c... you gotta blast em with sine sweeps at unlistenably loud volumes. My oppinions of course, YMMV Garrett

Thanks for the input, I'll try that. What is unlistenable but safe for these anyway? I'm sure my headphone amp here could blow these things to the moon. Sine sweeps? Like 20-150 hz. or so?

Yes, the KSC-75's are much closer to the Grado sound signature than the E2c's for sure (though I still disgree with Jahn calling them the baby Goovalizers or whatever lol). The e2c's have a more analytical approach to things than Grados, but at the same time they are not neutral in the least!

 

[kramer5150]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MD1032 Thanks for the input, I'll try that. What is unlistenable but safe for these anyway? I'm sure my headphone amp here could blow these things to the moon. Sine sweeps? Like 20-150 hz. or so? Yes, the KSC-75's are much closer to the Grado sound signature than the E2c's for sure (though I still disgree with Jahn calling them the baby Goovalizers or whatever lol). The e2c's have a more analytical approach to things than Grados, but at the same time they are not neutral in the least!

I did sweeps from 20-70. turn it up till I heard distortion / clipping (IE signs of distress), then back down the volume ~5-10% The e2c was warm to the touch during this bash session. I cringed... and let em' burn for ~70 hours. I just did 10 more hours last night for good measure.

I like the post burn-in signature. Its kind of a departure from my other cans (V6, DT770, KSC75, KSC50) that all have midrange recession from 400-1000Hz. The e2c is much more flat across those freqs. Im able to hear midrange details on the e2c that the others recess/mask.

Garrett

 

[UserNotFound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MD1032 The punch is just not there

If i turn mine all the way up on my Zen Touch, some drum beats almost make me blink uncontrollably. No distortion whatsoever, either.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MD1032 Portability will probably get better. The Shure case is very awkward to use compared to the MX400 wind-up case. You have to hold the wires down while winding, otherwise your wires will become loose and just kind of unravel on their own. Basically, you have to keep a tight grip on the sucker if you want to wind it right. The E2c's also don't tend to want to stay down in the center and the L-plug just barely fits with them in the middle. The case has nice aesthetics and good build quality, but that's it. I'll experiment and see if I can somehow rig up something else of my own design.

Pop 'em in an Altoids Sour tin. Wind the cords up around 2 fingers first, and just stick them in there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MD1032 edit: LOL! Look at the first picture, the one of the box. Notice the "MP3 READY" branded onto a generic MP3 player strangely resembling the ipod. How completely bogus.

My friend said my e2c's wouldn't work on his iPod, because my connector is bent at a right angle. He thought only a plug that looked like the small little iPod straight plug would work. The idea is that people have no clue anything besides Apple products will work with their iPod, so you put a sticker on your stuff to advertise to the ignorant. Note that it already says "Ideal for use with MP3 players or any personal digital music system" on the case, and they STILL put that sticker on there. And, if that weren't enough, on the back it IS ACUTALLY PICTURED with a real iPod.

 

[MD1032]

Thanks for the tin suggestion Kramer. Shure also sells a case without a center spoke thing, maybe I could get one of those. The tin is probably fine though, I can always fit it with felt too to make it extra comfy for my E2c's.

Well, UserNotFound, things right now are sounding pretty grainy even at low volumes. I'd say it's time to burn these things in. Stomper Hyperion, here I come.

 

[elbastardocalvo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kramer5150 I did sweeps from 20-70. turn it up till I heard distortion / clipping (IE signs of distress), then back down the volume ~5-10% The e2c was warm to the touch during this bash session. I cringed... and let em' burn for ~70 hours. I just did 10 more hours last night for good measure. I like the post burn-in signature. Its kind of a departure from my other cans (V6, DT770, KSC75, KSC50) that all have midrange recession from 400-1000Hz. The e2c is much more flat across those freqs. Im able to hear midrange details on the e2c that the others recess/mask. Garrett

Noob question: how does one go about doing this?

 

[TheLaZeR]

Do you know when those new sleeves are coming out??

I would REALLY like a pair if possible, i will pay if necessary.

 

[MD1032]

Quote:

Originally Posted by elbastardocalvo Noob question: how does one go about doing this?

First you walk into Victoria's Secret at your local mall naked, then you....

just kidding.

I use a cool program called Stomper Hyperion, which is actually meant to be a drum voice synthesizer, but I use it for sweeps!

I also use the NCH tone generator, but I don't know if it has a loop feature like stomper.

 

[kramer5150]

Quote:

Originally Posted by elbastardocalvo Noob question: how does one go about doing this?

I use panadisk bass mechanik (double CD relelease with Alma Gates' Bronco on the front cover)... its a favorite in DB-drag circles. It has several tracks of sine waves/sweeps, typically used to find vehicle resonant frequency.

Amplify the 20-70 Hz sweeps through my HA2 and let em' cook

Garrett

 

[MD1032]

Ouch. How much is cook? Right now I have my amp about 4/7 of the way and they are at such a volume that they are plainly audible even though they are zipped in their case with the extra wire here on my desk. Putting them in my ears would damage my hearing for sure.

Since these are sine waves, I can detect no distortion at all, and I am most definitely afraid to turn things up because this amp has a high current output (for my Grados) that I'm afraid would just cook these things.

edit: Yowch, I was cooking them all right. Just took them out. Amp and phones are warm, let's see how they sound. Phew, they're still alive and kicking. I don't know if the sound has changed or not, but jeez, if I had left them running like that overnight I could have cooked them for good (they were only in for 1.5 hours). They were audibly distorting just now for some odd reason (maybe the amp). I then quickly switched off the amp and realized I has been cooking them real nice all right.

 

[kramer5150]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MD1032 Ouch. How much is cook? Right now I have my amp about 4/7 of the way and they are at such a volume that they are plainly audible even though they are zipped in their case with the extra wire here on my desk. Putting them in my ears would damage my hearing for sure. Since these are sine waves, I can detect no distortion at all, and I am most definitely afraid to turn things up because this amp has a high current output (for my Grados) that I'm afraid would just cook these things. edit: Yowch, I was cooking them all right. Just took them out. Amp and phones are warm, let's see how they sound. Phew, they're still alive and kicking. I don't know if the sound has changed or not, but jeez, if I had left them running like that overnight I could have cooked them for good (they were only in for 1.5 hours). They were audibly distorting just now for some odd reason (maybe the amp). I then quickly switched off the amp and realized I has been cooking them real nice all right.

Yeah mine got nice and toasty... I cringed the entire 80 hours. So there is some risk in doing it to this extreme. You probably dont need to blast them the way I did. Im used to blowing voice coils in my car stereo, so I figure WTH... whats one more blown coil in my life

Guys in db drag circles plug subwoofer coils into light sockets to break them in, and let em' cook to the tune of 60Hz. Ive become de-sensitized to the smell of burning coil epoxy.

Garrett

 

[MD1032]

Yeah, this seems quite risky. I'm sure playing at high volumes is good for breaking in, but I think the levels I had them at were definitely in the red zone, so if I break them in more (which I plan to do over the weekend) I'll be sure to not use such an extreme volume level.

 

[james3shin]

After reading the original post and looking at the pics, the e2c's are definately not for me...thanks for the info, this was like a review, and a good one at that. Many thanks.