Help needed: first in-ear monitor

[nicolas000]

Hello everybody,

First of all, thanks all for this great forum, I'm surfing on it since a couple of weeks now and it's really terrific!

So, like the title said I'm planning to buy my first IEM since it appears to be the best choice for my needs (use in airplane, bus, metro and noisy city, easily transportable).

My budget is max. 250$, but I'll have no problem paying less

.
I'm planning to travel a lot (trip of 5 month in India in september

) with them so it should be "robust" enough.
It should have a great isolation and be confortable (i'm worrying about wearing those things actually...)
I'm listening mainly electro, a bit less of jazz and from time to time peoples speaking (audio book and the like).
Since I do not have much knowledge about headphone in general, I can't give you any kind of signature I like...

I was thinking about the SE310 which seems nice and beneficiate from an enthousiastic review on headphone.com but I liked to have your advice first.
Almost forgot, I planed to use it with my ipod classic 160Gb, no amp.

Thanks for your advises !

 

[3X0]

You can get a LOT more for $250 unless you're looking to buy only from retail stores. Consider the Etymotic ER4P with some comfy foam-based tips (not so comfortable stock) or the more versatile Sleek Audio SA6. The jays q-Jays are also worth looking into.

 

[Spyro]

$250 max? Yes ER4P would be good for $180'ish. Super Fi Pro is great in that range but isolation is only fair. I don't care for any of the Shures except the SE530 but that is about $330.

If there was anyway you could bump up to $269 delivered, Westone UM2 is phenommenal straight out of an Ipod. Pretty similar sound to SE530. While I think SE530 has more potential with amped sources, straight out of an Ipod I prefer the UM2. Plus comfort and isolation are 2nd to none.

 

[nicolas000]

Thanks guys!
So I read about your different recommandations:
First the Sleek Audio SA6 seems to be a damn complicated device, so will not work for me.
The ER4P seems a really good deal (and a piece of history ) but may be to analytic for my taste (I know I always choose warmer sound on analytical ones).
So the UM2 seems to be the right choice for me so far (and I find them in my price range on ebay). But I wonder about the solidity of the cable, it's seems really poor cables regarding the Shure ones (but my reference is the pictures I can find on the web of course...).
I think they will have a hard time whith me so the solidity of the device is definitively a important issue for me.

 

[Spyro]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nicolas000 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks guys! So I read about your different recommandations: First the Sleek Audio SA6 seems to be a damn complicated device, so will not work for me. The ER4P seems a really good deal (and a piece of history ) but may be to analytic for my taste (I know I always choose warmer sound on analytical ones). So the UM2 seems to be the right choice for me so far (and I find them in my price range on ebay). But I wonder about the solidity of the cable, it's seems really poor cables regarding the Shure ones (but my reference is the pictures I can find on the web of course...). I think they will have a hard time whith me so the solidity of the device is definitively a important issue for me.

The Shure cables (which I really like) are heavy and durable. The Westone's are definitely lighter but you would really have to yank and snag them hard to do any real damage. What is probably more important with the cabling is how they are built where the connections are to the plug and IEM's themselves. In this regard, Westone's are better than Shure. They are really rigid and practically molded amongst each other. They are actually great cables.

 

[edgar67]

My first IEMs arrived today, um1s. Wow! They sound very good and the isolation (not to mention comfort) is outstanding!

I was amazed as I walked past my swamp ("evaporative") cooler that sounds like a turbo jet engine, and I kid you not, all I could hear was Elvis Costello singing, "Alison, I know this world is killin' you..." (my ipod was not turned up very much either.)

They're much less $ than the um2s and they're smaller so I understand they might be a tad more comfy than the 2s. Of course, I must confess, I'm thinking about getting the 2s as well (oops.)

 

[nicolas000]

I don't think taking the downgrade model is an option for me. Since I can't compare the two, I'll just never ending asking me what I've missed until I finally buy the UM2.
We all are sick whith our devices, and knowing it does actually help saving (a little) money .
Since yesterday, I've been reading more post about them and think I'll fall for them!

Thanks

 

[Spyro]

For the record (and I have had both), I find that UM-1 is only 50-60% of what UM2 is. That 40% improvement is pretty huge in terms of SQ.