[linzhiliang]

HI, guys,I have a few questions, I need your help.
I'm looking for a headphone,I mostly listen to new age, pop, or songs on billboard,sometimes watch movies,I don't know how different sound quality is between IEM's and OEM's, after loooong search reviews for headphones, OEM need more set up and they cost a lot and only sit at home, good IEM price high but don't need dac/amps and you can carry it anywhere. MY QUESTION IS for sound quality in similar price range, is OEM better than IEM???
I find a set up in local shop cost about USD$650, is it worth it?
- Headphone: Sennheiser HD600
- DAC: Musical Fidelity V-DAC II
- Headphone Amp: New Zealand Hi-Fi brand - Perreaux SXH1
I may choose from Shure(425 535) Westone(w4r um3x) Sony(ex1000) JVC(650 700 850) Grado(gr8 gr10), or do you have other better option? I do wear glasses, so comfort and sound quality for me is more important than isolation.
 
My current set up is smartphone, Monster gratitude and Ultrasone DJ1. Plug and Play

 

[ProtegeManiac]

By OEM do you mean the HD600? We don't actually use the acronym "on-ear monitor" - fullsize headphones are either "circumaural" (earpads go around the ears) or "supra-aural" (earpads go on top of ears). OEM refers more to what it broadly means in electronics lingo, ie the original product that gets rebranded.

 

Anyways, comfort is a very personal thing - we can only point to what is comfortable to each of us but we can't make any real guesses for you. I wear glasses, all thin frames (nothing like what my grandfather or hipsters would wear), and I have never had any comfort issues on any large headphone or any IEM with cables that loop around my ears. I actually prefer routing the cables that way since they help keep the IEMs in my ears even if I move around (there's a reason why performers use the same ergos on stage) especially if I'm running up to catch the metro train. Still, I keep seeing people who are either too used to iPods or too attached to their hipster glassless frames that they prefer earphones whose cables go down, and can only wear headphones when they don't have their glassless frames on (seriously, I've met people like this - including our formerly headbanging rhythm guitarist who now dresses up like a Korean version of a hipster and knows his way around a digital TT-scratcher than a fretboard). 

 

Ergonomics can also affect the sound. While the way I wear the HD600 (bent out headband frame, as few clicks out from tightest setting as possible - rests on head with almost no clamp at the earpads) makes it sound closest to the UM3X, the way people wear it seems to suggest a sound a bit like the SE535; the HD650 similarly for me is just a bit smoother than the UM3X, but to others sounds like the Sennheiser IE80.

 

In any case, if comfort is the most important thing then I'd say that from that list (and even with the IE80 I mentioned) you might as well eliminate everything but the Shures and Westone, but again that's from my ergnomic preferences as I really like how they rout the cables, how relatively thin the cables are (the VSonic VS3DS have a too thick stock cable) but not microphonic if worn tightly, and the more organic shape that doesn't have issues in my outer ear (unlike the IE8; not sure if the IE80 improved on that). And given the reference system you're citing, I'd say it's between the UM3X and the SE535. Considering I may be one of a few who hear the HD600 differently from a lot of people (many of whom are susceptible to confirmation bias when they try them out at a meet after a dozen other people have squished the earpads throughout the day), I'd say the SE535 is the safest bet. 

 

[linzhiliang]

Thanks for that, so you think  I was hook up with SE535 until a review said FX700 are better for all round and remind me I wear glasses all the time(not that grandfather or hipsters will wear).
 
Because I living in a small town and small country, I don't have chance listen to either one of them, so I can't compare, and I still don't know how to buy things safe on head-fi yet. so I need to keep learning.