[FidelityFreak]

Hi all

This is my first post, another Aussie.

Here is a summary of my confusion. For years I have purchased Sony headphones due to their seemily more high end specifications which is all you can go on before purchase. I primarily find Sony a lot higher quality and found their audio production in all aspects is amazing, so partially believe they are the best audio without a huge price tag.

My first pair of Sony headphones were the MDR-E888LP's and they sounded awesome (non in-ear). The next was the MDR-EX50 / MDR-EX72 / MDR-EX88LP / MDR-EX92's (Monitor Series). Now the EX series were all in ear, the first time I tried them and was blow away literally but the massive sound difference, due to the in-ear design. My last pair of earphones were the MDR-V700DJ (50mm drive and enough audio grunt and power to level a city

. To my knowledge all these models are single driver.

I then defected to the Apple In-Ear earphones, and decided to give these a spin and I was shocked at how small they were and how much audio they pumped out with a tweed and woofer in one. I admit for their size, im puzzled as to how they engineered them to pump out the audio they do. I wanted to still get in-ear but a higher audio quality while retaining bass.

Before purchasing any of these, I compare the specifications, and one spec which I think gets left out is the power handling capacity the earphones use, so I choose the highest in the in-ear range which is around 200mw (MDR-EX92) which to me translated to a better audio experience as it could handly more load. While recently on the prowl again in the constant pursuit of high quality powerful, in-ear earphones within a price bracked up to AU$300 as these would only be used for my iPod touch / iPhone. I found the Sony MDR-E300SL here: MDR-EX300SL : High End In-Ear Headphones : Headphones : Sony Australia, or the bigger brother version MDR-E500LP here: MDR-EX500LP : High End In-Ear Headphones : Headphones : Sony Australia

Now if you look at the specs for both the earphones above, they seem very impressive. I have been told the lower the ohms rating the better the bass, and to search for earphones with the largest frequency response (say 5hz to 25,000khz). So a couple of days ago I was going to get the Sony MDR-E300SL's as the dearer model (500LP) didnt vary much in specs, but did in price (only AU$99). I then saw a brand of earphones in a cabinet called Klipsch and beside that was Sennheiser (IE 6,7,8). Once I saw the Seenheiser price tags and Made in China and lower specs than Sony, I quickly went back to the Klipsch Custom 1's.

I had heard of Klipsch professional audio products, but this was the first time I physically saw their headphones in packaging. I read the Custom 1 information, was impressed (despite lack of specs), but thought I would try a different brand from Sony. The retail of these was $AU279, but they were offering AU$100 off, so got it knocked down to AU$170. I have now tried them out, and the Klipsch Custom 1's sound a lot clearer, crisper and have quite a high level of thump (bass). I dont use any EQ settings. So I thought I would ponder this question, did I make the right choice and are the specifications the only way you can compare when you cannot try them first and should I have stuck to Sony?

 

[decay]

You wait for other people to buy them and read about what they heard, repeat until you are
satisfied with what you chose.

As for specification, ES3X, one of the flagship customs and highly praised if not deemed to be
perfect: Frequency response: 20 Hz - 18 kHz.

As for Sennheiser IE6/7/8s are made in China, they are as sturdy as IEMs get and you can
always get a replacement cable.

 

[hockeyb213]

To add onto that the ie series use some of the best headphone cables known to man kind. Absolutely 0 microphonics or issues with the thing and it is very durable. That along with the fact that it is replaceable is very reassuring.

 

[kaldaim]

The best way to compare when you can not try them first is to let other people compare them for you! Read reviews, browse for suggestions, make pro/con lists, and, if you still have questions, ask away. Specifications really won't give you a good comparison, especially if you're looking at phones in a similar price range

 

[qusp]

specs say actually very little about actual sound quality; if you are basing your choices mainly on that you are going about it in the wrong way IMO. MP3 and many other formats do not possess any information below 20hz or about 20.5 khz, and the human ear cannot usually hear above 18khz or below 10hz. sonys are IMO overpriced, bloated and lacking some detail, I think you need to find a new benchmark. IMO the IE7 would have been a superior choice in all aspects to the custom 1

 

[FidelityFreak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by decay /img/forum/go_quote.gif You wait for other people to buy them and read about what they heard, repeat until you are satisfied with what you chose. As for Sennheiser IE6/7/8s are made in China, they are as sturdy as IEMs get and you can always get a replacement cable.

I believe for the price Senneheiser charge for their earphones, they should be Made in Germany. Even their AU$800 noise cancelling ones are Made in China. So basically, Im suppose to ignore any specs related material, and choose a review where everyones hearing is different? I need something visual to compare, and specifications are the only way to go in this area and you cannot test them out before purchase.

 

[FidelityFreak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by qusp /img/forum/go_quote.gif specs say actually very little about actual sound quality; if you are basing your choices mainly on that you are going about it in the wrong way IMO. MP3 and many other formats do not possess any information below 20hz or about 20.5 khz, and the human ear cannot usually hear above 18khz or below 10hz. sonys are IMO overpriced, bloated and lacking some detail, I think you need to find a new benchmark. IMO the IE7 would have been a superior choice in all aspects to the custom 1

Would I noticed a drastic difference between the the Klipsch Custom 1's and the Sennheiser IE7's or would the difference be minimal - again everyone will have different hearing. I have had no experience with other brands, have been using Sony most of my life, so this is a huge step.

 

[Zalithian]

Specs are meaningless, for the most part. Keep in mind especially that most if not all portable players do not even play below 20hz anyway, so having earphones that go down to 5hz won't matter unless you are using it on a computer with a good sound card or something.

Another important fact: The number of drivers doesn't really mean anything. It can mean something, but you can't just assume more drivers = better. The Sennheiser IE8's are considered by most to be one of the best Universals on the planet, yet they only use one 9mm dynamic driver in each earpiece. They compare with and are considered on par with the Westone 3's, UM3X's, TF.10's which all have 3 drivers per earpiece.

Unfortunately I can't comment on the Klipsch sound as the post office has been sucking around here lately, but the IE7's are probably one of the best you can buy for under $200. Not sure of their price over there, but I know they're typically more expensive in the US. If you do buy a dynamic driver like the IE7's, keep in mind it takes time to sound optimal. 150-200+ hours.

Whether or not you'll notice the difference between those and the C1 will depend on your source, genres, ears, and source files.

 

[Sherwood]

A few issues. No one publishes their specs honestly. 5hz-25,000hz means nothing with a -dB rating. Almost every transducer can reproduce a 20 Hz signal, but it might be 35 dB quieter than the 5,000 Hz signal it can reproduce. Good luck finding this spec on any headphone under $100.

Sennheiser makes their products in China because they can deliver those products to you for less money. The QC is generally no different on a Chinese product than a German/American/Australian product, and Sennheiser is willing to stake their name on that. Why is that not good enough for you?

Power handling is irrelevant. If you put too much power in, they distort. If you're using a portable player, you'll never overdrive any headphone. You'll clip the output of the player long before the cheapest transducer. Power handling figures are like warning labels -- if you're the slightest bit careful, you don't need to worry about them.

Impedance has nothing at all to do with bass frequencies. It is a measure of how much electrical resistance is provided by the voice coil of the driver. Often, a higher impedance leads to more bass control with a capable amp. Directly out of a portable, impedance is near meaningless. A more important stat is "sensitivity", the higher the louder. Good luck finding that on a box, though.

The reality is the only way to know is to hear them. If you can't hear them, trust the general thrust of reviewers. Out of 10 reviews, odds are good that more will agree with you than not. Stats printed on boxes tell such a small part of the story that they're near useless. Trust the ears of those on Head-Fi whom you trust.

 

[mark2410]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FidelityFreak /img/forum/go_quote.gif Would I noticed a drastic difference between the the Klipsch Custom 1's and the Sennheiser IE7's or would the difference be minimal - again everyone will have different hearing. I have had no experience with other brands, have been using Sony most of my life, so this is a huge step.

erm you need to stop it right now, take everything you have been talking about and erase it from your mind.

specs mean absolutely nothing so ignore them. as for the custom 1 and IE7 omg they live on different planets, the IE7 and the custom 3 are quite similar though if the fit and isolation matter to you.


so far i think the summation of everything you have said makes want to just tell you to go buy the IE7 before you do something crazy

 

[Ed Seedhouse]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sherwood /img/forum/go_quote.gif Power handling is irrelevant. If you put too much power in, they distort. If you're using a portable player, you'll never overdrive any headphone.

I am sorry, that's just wrong. I can name tracks on which, driven by an iPod classic, my Sennheiser CX300-IIs clearly and heavily overload, whereas the Senn IE8's don't.

 

[Sherwood]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ed Seedhouse /img/forum/go_quote.gif I am sorry, that's just wrong. I can name tracks on which, driven by an iPod classic, my Sennheiser CX300-IIs clearly and heavily overload, whereas the Senn IE8's don't.

Your iPod classic puts out 30 mW of power. Your CX 300-IIs are rated to accept much more than that.

You're not putting in too much power, you're asking them to reproduce too much volume. Again, these are different measures. I could hook your senns up to the 1w output of a great headphone amp and they would not distort until I asked them to reproduce more volume than their drivers were capable of. What you're speaking of is not power handling.

 

[qusp]

^^ listen to the man; he's making good sense here; in fact I was actually quite amazed at the good quality 'facs

he was able to clear up in one fairly short post in this thread.

5hz means nothing connected to pretty much anything actually. doesnt matter if its a high quality dac or an ipod. MP3 and even lossless contain little to zero information down there and then you have the point that Sherwood has made about how those specs were rated.

custom 1 and IE7 are leagues apart. even the custom 3's were pretty boring to my ears and certainly the 2's so I expect the 1's to be pretty near useless compared to IE7.

as sherwood says; things are 'genuine made in china' these days and they possess some seriously good skilled workers and machinery. unfortunately for workers here and most of the western world, but good in some ways for the consumer, china is producing a large quotient of the quality electronics world-wide these days. would you rather pay double the price?; you are getting much more for your money if they are built there and in most cases you will not lose out in quality at all; but instead gain the quality you get for your dollar.

 

[Ed Seedhouse]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sherwood /img/forum/go_quote.gif Your iPod classic puts out 30 mW of power. Your CX 300-IIs are rated to accept much more than that.

Whatever they are rated to handle, either they or the amp are overloading. Maybe I have a defective pair.

Quote:

You're not putting in too much power, you're asking them to reproduce too much volume.

There are only two possibilities, namely that the headphones are overloading or that the iPod is clipping badly. But leaving the iPod volume sitting the same and substituting the IE8, the distortion goes away. Since the two headphones have substantiately the same impedance that means the amp is putting out the same voltage in each case. So that rules out the amplifer in my opinion. Of course the IE8s are also a lot louder because they are more efficient, but that's irrelevant.

 

[FidelityFreak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mark2410 /img/forum/go_quote.gif erm you need to stop it right now, take everything you have been talking about and erase it from your mind. specs mean absolutely nothing so ignore them. as for the custom 1 and IE7 omg they live on different planets, the IE7 and the custom 3 are quite similar though if the fit and isolation matter to you. so far i think the summation of everything you have said makes want to just tell you to go buy the IE7 before you do something crazy

I took the plunge, returned the Klipsch Custom 1's and got the Senheiser IE7's, the IE8's were $AU200 more and similar features (overkill for an ipod). The difference between the Klipsch and the Sennheiser I7's is amazing, no going back now. I was hesitant paying so much for headphones, but they are worth every cent. Even the packaging and case is out of this world

. The packaging is so well done and presented, it took me no less than 15 minutes to figure it out

lol.

I use these for my iPod / iPhone 3GS and play a mixture of soundtracks / pop / rap etc. Sticker price was $AU449, got a $AU349. The bass on these really kicks ass, makes you wonder how they engineered it to perform so well. I removed the standard ear plug sheaths and put the larger ones on and the seal is perfect and the audio is amazing. Only drawback for the price, not gold plated 3.5mm headphone jack which is kind of odd for such high end IEM's.

Since im new to Sennheiser - this is my first ever pair, whats the burn in time on these?