After reading a ton of posts, I have a few questions regarding the er6i and UM1 because these are the two IEMs I'm considering for an introduction into IEMs.
About 10-12 years ago I tried a pair of IEMs from a co-worker but I can't remember who made them, but they did have a three-flange tip and looked very similar to Etymotics ER4, and the sound blew me away. All genres were incredible. I could hear chairs creaking on a classical CD (using a Discman).
Here are my restrictions:
- I have $200 cold, hard cash in hand.
- A 2nd generation iPod Nano.
- My preference is a for a warm, mellow, "brown" sound.
- I listen to classical, jazz, "butt" rock, acoustic rock (big Dave Matthews fan), a little bit of hip hop, funk, bluegrass, etc. Basically all of the music genres.
- Isolation is very important.
I was considering the er6i first because it appears to be a good baseline to work with by adding the iPod's EQ settings if necessary (boost the bass for the hip hop, funk stuff). It has fantastic isolation. But, it may not be very warm.
Now I'm starting to consider the UM1 because it appears to have that warm sound, good to great isolation, and might be more robust (mow the lawn, cook in the kitchen, possibly run, without too bad microphonics - the sound coming the cord is you rub it, right?).
I was also thinking about the super.fi 3 studio, but something turned me off of those and I can't remember what.
Is my decision going to be a coin toss?