[b-rad]

hey guys, first time posting here. joined the site because of the plethora of knowledge wealthy individuals here. wanted to get some opinions from those in the know.
im looking for a nice pair of sound isolating ear phones in the $100 and below range. i ride a motorcycle full time and i use my headphones as entertainment/ wind blocker to keep the tinnitus at bay. wind noise leaves my ears ringing for hours!
i had a decent pair of radio shack sony ear buds that recently kicked the bucket on me. i was happy with them aside from the uneven length chords

.
just the other day i decided to pick up a pair of sennheiser cx300-II's and was quite happy with them until i realized they could be had for much cheaper online! so i returned them promptly.
then i got to thinking...i wonder what else i could buy in the near by price range that might be a better quality product? so here i am! i mostly listen to electronic music. so i like the bass to be clean and tight, but nowhere near flat. i also like nice clean high's, and an available midrange. i guess what im looking for is an all around headphone? if that is possible. i dont want to sacrifice any particular range for the other. i want it all to be there. and of course durability is important to me since the majority of the time they will be worn underneath a helmet.
i was considering purchasing a pair of the klipsch s4's since i've heard such great things about them. but im sure there are a lot of other non-mainstream brands that probably offer much better sound quality for the same price. sound quality is the goal, with strong bass and clean highs that arent too sharp. i'm just unsure of what's available, and where i should begin looking. so if anyone would be willing to point me in the right direction i would greatly appreciate it!
any and all suggestions are welcome
 
brad
 
ohhhh ya! i forgot to mention that i use my headphones with my iphone as mp3 source. no amps or anything.   i just dont want to pass up a good product because i didnt know about it

 

[Marcus_C]

The klipsch's are good for the price but as you suspect there are many others. Maybe have a look at these threads, they compare quite a lot separated by budgets and looking through the photos should let you know whether they'll fit under a helmet. (Fischer eterna, brainwavz M2 have been getting some love recently on these forums)
 
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/478568/multi-iem-review-75-iems-compared-radius-ddm-and-jvc-ha-fx67-added-06-07
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/450407/multiple-iem-shootout-v-3
 
As for the above post, it's not particularly useful mate, he's looking for recommendations not an explanation of driver technology, and he has stated a budget so if cost was no object he'd get the most expensive ones, UE18, (again, not particularly useful).

 

[ljokerl]

^ +1 to all of the above. The Brainwavz M2/ViSang R03 (same thing) is worth looking into. Very decent bass and midrange and absolutely no harshness in the treble (which the S4 is prone toward). And sumflow is worth ignoring.

 

[b-rad]

haha thanks for the advice, i was checking out some of the iem's that were reviewed in the links marcus provided. i did want to get some insight however, if i could. if a headphone is said to have decent bass/midrange and no harshness in treble, does that make it a "muddy" sounding phone? i do like treble clarity, i'm just not a mids/highs kind of guy. i'd like tonal clarity in all spectrums if at all possible. i guess i'm not really sure exactly what some of the lingo means.
 
another question i had was whether there was a good vender to purchase from in the states?

 

[ljokerl]

The glossary might be of some help. Lack of harshness does not make a muddy-sounding phone. Though there probably is a slight correlation on the grand scale between smoothness and lack of clarity, there are plenty of earphones that don't suffer from harshness and yet remain crystal clear (RE0 and RE252 come to mind). On the other hand there are some harsh earphones that are somewhat muddy (e.g. Jlabs J3). Best to take each earphone individually and not make generalizations.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by b-rad /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
another question i had was whether there was a good vender to purchase from in the states?

Purchase what? Different vendors have different inventories. Brainwavz are sold by mp4nation.net. ViSang earphones are available on ebay. Fischer Audio gear is probably easiest to get from bugdenaudio.com. Head-Direct earphones are sold on their own website, etc, etc.

 

[b-rad]

i was looking for vendors that sell the brainwavs m2/visang r03 and they all seem to be in the uk... i'll check the sources you mentioned
 
also, how would you compare the brainwavz m3/visang r03 to the head direct reo?
 
i think i've narrowed it down to those three, with the addition of the panasonic RP-HJE900.
i just wanna do some more research before i commit to one

 

[ljokerl]

Quote:

i was looking for vendors that sell the brainwavs m2/visang r03 and they all seem to be in the uk... i'll check the sources you mentioned
 
also, how would you compare the brainwavz m3/visang r03 to the head direct reo?
 
i think i've narrowed it down to those three, with the addition of the panasonic RP-HJE900.
i just wanna do some more research before i commit to one

The first thread Marcus_C linked to contains my opinions on the RE0, M2/R03, and HJE900. It also has links to more complete reviews of the HJE900 and R03 right under the mini reviews. I gave my short take on the R03 vs RE0 here but I believe ClieOS's M2 review thread is worth reading as well as many people gave relevant opinions and comparisons there.
 
Personally, I don't think the RE0 is ideal for electronica. Between the R03 and HJE900, I would say that the HJE900 is the better earphone but the R03 is the better value and slightly more user-friendly. If you are really worried about harsh highs, I would stay away from the HJE900. It's not as bad as the S4 but it's hardly restrained when it comes to treble.

 

[rarebear]

I just recieved my HJE900s last week and loving them..
I have an iPod Touch and Fiio E5 AMP ($19) but I dont think the Amp is must..
 
The earphones have gone up $20 since the review Joker wrote which is why I choose them...
They are now $129 @ J&R cheapest I could find...

 

[b-rad]

thanks for the speedy replies.. it seems i've found another phone im interested in. do you have any experience with the fischer audio eterna? it appears they've produced two versions, the original and beta? where can i get ahold of the original design?

 

[ljokerl]

Quote:

thanks for the speedy replies.. it seems i've found another phone im interested in. do you have any experience with the fischer audio eterna? it appears they've produced two versions, the original and beta? where can i get ahold of the original design?

The beta should be unattainable to you, being a beta (meaning pre-production version). Regarding v1 and v2 eternas, I'm not sure the differences are clear-cut yet. Either way I think only the v2 is shipping at this point but you could ask Ethan, him being an FA dealer. I have not heard either version of the Eterna yet, though I should be able to in the coming weeks.

 

[b-rad]

well, after reading review after review i think i've finally decided on one. i think. haha i narrowed it down to the brainwavz m2/Visang r03, and the fischer audio eterna. v.2 is what is currently available and apparently they cleaned up a few of the bad habits the v1 picked up along the way. so for now i'm going to purchase the FA eterna's. it appears to be the best option for the price range, and my musical tastes.i'll be sure to post up once they're received to confirm. so we'll see how it goes! thanks to all for the suggestions and education take care
 
brad

 

[Marcus_C]

@b-rad - Good choice on the FA eternas, hope you're very happy with them. Also don't get put off this forum by this thread alone, on the whole this is a brilliant forum and since i've joined Sumflow has been the only person i'd describe as a troll, they don't stick around long. Sorry he latched onto your thread.

 

[b-rad]

I hope I'm happy with them also! Ethan said they'd ship this morning, so hopefully the postman hurries quick  no worries, I realize there's always somebody like sunflower who likes to postwhore. Sumflow* darn autocorrect.

And fort the record, if money were no object I'd have a Gumpert Apollo, and a Weissman gt 

 

[cereal-jeff]

I have a similar question... I recently lost my zune premium earphones, which I thought were excellent. I tried replacing them with some cheap(ish) panasonics, but theyre just not the same, so I'm looking for a nice pair of reasonably priced IEMs. After reading the IEM review I'm thinking of:
 
 
Kicker EB141 ($50)
Klipsch S4 ($100)
PureSounds Pur600/800/1000 ($60/$70/$90)
Visang R02
Brainwavz M1
 
Or any other suggestions you guys have in the $50-$100 range. The price is flexible... I am not an audio connoisseur so I don't think I'd benefit from spending more than $100 on earphones because at that point I probably couldn't tell the difference. Note that I live in Canada and couldn't find any place that sells the Visang or Brainwavz.

 

[Marcus_C]

 
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What music do you listen to? Anything specific? Everything? Also what did you like about the zune earphones that you didn't on the panasonic's. As for the specific's I've only heard the s4 from that list so I can't help there.
 
@b-rad: Good choice on the Weissman, even if it's just an m3 in a pretty frock it does look brilliant.
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