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I've had all three and my 2c is that the atrio is definitely a top mid tier headphone for bass enthusiasts that don't want to spend much but they are definitely mid tier they lack the finer detail retrieval that the gr07 and ie80 bring. The ie8/80 while having much better soundstage and stronger bass presence does definitely bleed heavily into the mids and can spoil some softer listening styles of music but other than that have a very easy on the ears approach and can be listened to all day without fatigue. Now the gr07s bring much more mid detail and a cleaner sound overall with no muddiness by it do indeed have a bit sharper treble and can be fatigueing at louder volumes but they can definitely support basslines from modern electronic much better than most iems without being overpowering, definitely a more refined bass head earphone and with a hardware bass boost they can drive very loud.
So all in all there is a significant price deference between all 3 and they alll bring a very different sound signature and the only thing I might else point out is that the gr07 series and atrio are a bit harder to drive than the ie8/80 and benefit quite a bit from an amp especially if you want high volume while the ie8/80s cab go very loud from near any source.
And yes the brainwavs are god awful earphones I would never use the word bass monsters with.
On amazon, the Gr07 bass is $180, same thing with the MG7s... but, yeah the ie8 is around $215 from an independent seller (http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-IE-Premium-Earphones-Version/dp/B0012XFDWE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1367627678&sr=8-2&keywords=ie8).
What do you mean by "harder to drive?"
I know this may be asking for a bit much, but if you could: what would you rate the subbass, soundstage, and clarity on non-EQd gr07s and MG7s? I say non-EQd, because the EQ settings on the iPod touch are terrible IMO. The only thing that brings out bass is the "bass enhanced," "jazz," and "hiphop" settings. But, they cause the music to sound "muddy" to me.
Would you say the gr07 bass editions are overall better, while the mg7s have slightly more bass?
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I've been a huge fan of dubstep and drum n bass for many years and I've been on a mission to find the ultimate headphone lol and I've pretty much tried all the notable bass headphones and so far as much as I love the ie80's based quality and quantity I've recently picked up the sony xba4 and with the proper source they are astonishing, I've tried many balanced armatures and until recently all failed miserably at loud volumes in the bass department but curiosity killed the cat(and my wallet) so I purchased them...but they sound awful on my iPhone and sansa fuze , but as soon as I paired then with my new galaxy note 2 I was blown away with the detail bass and soundstage and with a small 4db low end bass boost they can seriously move some air which previously I thought was impossible for ba's and they have a soundstage with depth and layering to rival the ie80 with only a hair less width which just makes everything sound proper which the super quality of the gr07 but with better impact and presence than the ie80s. So for my money and tastes I think I've finally found the "one" lol now I'm thinking of getting them reshelled into what would be my first customs. This website is bad for my wallet.
Are you talking about XBA 4IP or XBA 4 - 4? Amazon has two listed.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Delectronics&field-keywords=sony+xba4
How long have you had them, by the way? I could never get Sony IEMs to last more than around 2 months. They would always have one ear go out, if the plug is touched.
Thanks for answering.