maverickronin
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Apr 5, 2010
- Posts
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I try to avoid reading about or trying things that are way out of my budget but that has come back to bite me now that my budget has expanded. I don't know much about custom IEMs and I've come to the conclusion I need a pair.
My room is too damn noisy. As I sit in my room, the various fans, A/C, etc come to 62 C weighted decibels if my radio shack SPL meter is to be trusted. I can't listen to open phones at low volumes without losing all the detail and if I listen loud I can't listen for long. In addition, I've measured my pet parrot at more than 115dB at one foot.
When taking inventory of all my gear I noticed that if I sold most of it I could consolidate to a single pair of high end headphones, and that if they were isolating and portable they would fulfill all my needs. The cheapest closed 'phones I know are good enough in both SQ and isolation are the ED8s, but for that much money I might as well buy a high end custom which will be more portable and more isolating, so that's what I think I'll do.
My main concern is the fit changing over the course of a few years. I don't want to have to spend $1200+ every 2-3 years or sooner if I ever manage to lose some weight. I'd absolutely have to buy from a company that will reshell their own customs for a modest fee (maybe $100-$150 or so) since I'm not very comfortable sending them to a 3rd party.
Of the 'phones I've owned or had loaned to me long enough to form a firm opinion on them, the HD650 and SE530 are almost neck and neck for my favorite but neither are my "perfect" sound sig. I'd prefer the HD650 had quite a bit more sub-bass and maybe a bit more mid-bass. I'd prefer the SE530s had a hair more treble and a few hairs more bass. I love their mids though, and I don't want to give up any quality in that area, though I'm assuming I shouldn't have to worry about that when dealing with kilo-buck customs.
Even though it may seem odd given my choice of 'phones I mostly listen to metal of all sub-genres though just about everything but country gets a turn on my playlist. I'm also more or less a bass head (metal is followed by electronica/techno/trance), but if given the choice I'll take extension down to the very lowest subsonics over more quantity at a higher frequency.
So based on that, what custom should I pick?
My room is too damn noisy. As I sit in my room, the various fans, A/C, etc come to 62 C weighted decibels if my radio shack SPL meter is to be trusted. I can't listen to open phones at low volumes without losing all the detail and if I listen loud I can't listen for long. In addition, I've measured my pet parrot at more than 115dB at one foot.
When taking inventory of all my gear I noticed that if I sold most of it I could consolidate to a single pair of high end headphones, and that if they were isolating and portable they would fulfill all my needs. The cheapest closed 'phones I know are good enough in both SQ and isolation are the ED8s, but for that much money I might as well buy a high end custom which will be more portable and more isolating, so that's what I think I'll do.
My main concern is the fit changing over the course of a few years. I don't want to have to spend $1200+ every 2-3 years or sooner if I ever manage to lose some weight. I'd absolutely have to buy from a company that will reshell their own customs for a modest fee (maybe $100-$150 or so) since I'm not very comfortable sending them to a 3rd party.
Of the 'phones I've owned or had loaned to me long enough to form a firm opinion on them, the HD650 and SE530 are almost neck and neck for my favorite but neither are my "perfect" sound sig. I'd prefer the HD650 had quite a bit more sub-bass and maybe a bit more mid-bass. I'd prefer the SE530s had a hair more treble and a few hairs more bass. I love their mids though, and I don't want to give up any quality in that area, though I'm assuming I shouldn't have to worry about that when dealing with kilo-buck customs.
Even though it may seem odd given my choice of 'phones I mostly listen to metal of all sub-genres though just about everything but country gets a turn on my playlist. I'm also more or less a bass head (metal is followed by electronica/techno/trance), but if given the choice I'll take extension down to the very lowest subsonics over more quantity at a higher frequency.
So based on that, what custom should I pick?
)
