[Real Maximus]

First, I apologize if this has been covered somewhere. I am new to this forum and did not find this covered.

I need your help. I am looking to either purchase a new pair of headphones or EIMs. I am in the beginning stages of building my portable dream system and am considering beginning my upgrades with the speakers, vs the amplification, so to speak.

I currently own an ipod, and will eventually purchase a portable amp. For now, I need either IEMs or I need a headphone that run well directly from the ipod, not requiring an external amp. I have pretty much narrowed it down to either the grado 325is or the westone 3 IEMs.

How will these compare to one another? I don't mind wearing around the large headphones. I just want quality that can be driven without using an amp at this point. All suggestions are most welcome!

 

[Currawong]

The only problem with wearing large headphones is that everyone else gets to hear what you're listening to (unless you listen quietly) and you get to hear all the background noise while you're listening, which isn't much fun. I'd stick with IEMs.

 

[Scott_Tarlow]

Try the ESW9 or the ESW10

 

[Real Maximus]

Great suggestion. How will the ESW9 compare to westone 3 in terms of quality, characteristics, isolation, etc? The ESW9s are actually less expensive and possibly better performers?

 

[Scott_Tarlow]

Not sure how they compare to the Westone, as I have never heard them. That being said, they are one of the best portable headphones I have ever heard ( have not tried the 10). I don't find them very portable, as you can't wear them around your neck. They have amazing mids, and punchy controlled bass. They don't need an amp, but benefit from even my little e5. MY GUESS, would be that they atleast perform as well as Westone 3's, most likely out perform them because they are headphones rather than earphones, and I have found that IEM's don't give as good price per performance as headphones. That being said, IEM's are obviously way better for noisy/ walking around town type stuff. I use my ESW9's at home.

 

[cyberidd]

Just for clarity's sake, headphones can isolate quite well if they're closed, but any Grado won't work for that as they are all open. IEMs are much more portable, but personally I prefer headphones and usually wear my DT770 for portable as opposed to my CX300.

 

[Jian]

dt660 for closed,dt860 for open. They both can be powered by PO, and have potentials when plugged to a descent amp for example P51 or voyager. W3 IMHO is not as westone as um3X. DT770 is nice, but a amp is quite necessary I think.

 

[ajjekko]

Portability or not? I suggest full-sized cans to use at home, open or not. Comfort is another issue. If you're fine with taking out full-sized headphones out in public get a closed pair of cans.

 

[Timothy.Wong]

Grados will be the better choice if you use them mostly indoors, since they are open cans, they will leak a fair amount of sound, especially if you're listening to someone loud, and an amp is recommended. Also, you might have a comfort issue with the grados, so think how long time a day you spend a day on listening to music, and they might be sort of heavy to carry around.

IEM's on the other hand are much easier to carry around, if doesn't attract as much attention, and doesn't require an amp. Isolation from ambient noises might be at your advantage if you're on the train or other noisy enviroments, but it's not recommended if you wear them while crossing streets since there is a possibility where you will get hit by a car.

 

[CDBacklash]

My main problem with IEMs is that even on 1% volume straight from the STX after about 5 hours I get tinnitus even though it is impossibly quiet due to resonating frequencies within the eardrum. There is no damage occuring, just a loopback I guess.
I listen to headphones very loudly and never get any sort of tinnitus besides pulsatile which is because of an out of place artery.

 

[Miths]

I can't imagine ever wanting to bring a pair of open headphones with me. They leak like hell, meaning everyone in the near vicinity on the bus or on the street would have to listen to my music as well, if I played it at what I consider normal listening levels. Which probably wouldn't even be enough outside, as there's obviously extremely little noise isolation from open headphones.

Then there's the matter of driving the headphones with an iPod - neither my HD650 nor my K601 are good candidates there (the latter in particular can't even be driven to acceptable volumes with my iPod), and if I went with something much easier to drive like my HD595, I frankly wouldn't feel it was worth the hassle mentioned above, considering how great my CX95 IEMs sound - and I don't believe they are even considered anywhere near "high end" when we're talking about IEMs.

The CX95 (or any other decent IEM I assume) are obviously always extremely easy to bring along, provide excellent noise isolation and deliver a sound quality - and bass - that frankly surprised me (I previously used the CX300 - the CX95 was a huge step up. I can't even imagine how great some of those pricy Shure or Wetstone must sound).
The main area where I really feel they come up short is in soundstage. It's much more compact than on my open headphones - and if I've understood it correctly that appears to be a common trait with IEMs?

 

[scytheavatar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CDBacklash /img/forum/go_quote.gif My main problem with IEMs is that even on 1% volume straight from the STX after about 5 hours I get tinnitus even though it is impossibly quiet due to resonating frequencies within the eardrum. There is no damage occuring, just a loopback I guess. I listen to headphones very loudly and never get any sort of tinnitus besides pulsatile which is because of an out of place artery.

You are talking about the ER4p, one of the brightest IEM out there, vs the bassy DT770? That's a bloody unfair comparison, there's plenty of non-bright IEMs out there like the UM2, SE530, SA6, Image X10 etc.

 

[laelle]

I tried IEMs and really, it cannot compare bass-wise to headphones. (At least what I tried).
 
Between the Sony MDR-XB50AP (IEMs) and the Sony MDR-XB950AP (headphones), the difference is not funny.
 
The headphones wins by an enormous margin.
 
Plus, the 4mm hole the sound comes out of earphones...