[kiteki]

Holy crap... it's like I can touch the saxophones... you just gotta hear it to believe it!!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrdwhXNt4qw
 
No Stax Omegas can compare!
 
 

 

[Spyro]

I received a pair of these a few days ago and do not like them much at all whether amped or unamped.
 
What I like:

1. Very nice open, airy soundstage with great clarity.

 
What I don't like:

1. Non-existent bass.  By far the weakest of anything I have ever put in my ears.  Almost thought they were deffective.
2. Awkward design which is keeping me from getting a decent fit.  If I "force" the fit, the bass is still weak.  Simply unacceptable IMHO.
3. If I push the volume or try to add bass EQ, they distort.  I suppose this is due to drivers being dynamic.
4. One of the modular cables I received does not work in one channel.

 
 
Really not much else to say.  I will send back tomorrow.  Just not for me.

 

[kiteki]

 
Quote:

I received a pair of these a few days ago and do not like them much at all whether amped or unamped.
 
What I like:

1. Very nice open, airy soundstage with great clarity.

 
What I don't like:

1. Non-existent bass.  By far the weakest of anything I have ever put in my ears.  Almost thought they were deffective.
2. Awkward design which is keeping me from getting a decent fit.  If I "force" the fit, the bass is still weak.  Simply unacceptable IMHO.
3. If I push the volume or try to add bass EQ, they distort.  I suppose this is due to drivers being dynamic.
4. One of the modular cables I received does not work in one channel.

 
 
Really not much else to say.  I will send back tomorrow.  Just not for me.

That's sad to hear Spyro.
 
I guess it's like i2ehan said, that bright or bassy IEM's is all relative to what we're used to, I find the bass on the RE272 perfectly acceptable, it's not on the level of any decent full-sized headphones, but I find the RE272 is a "knocking on the door" bass with high quality, and more bass than the RE0 for sure, and at the very least equal to RE252, I tried a few tracks and I was very 'impressed' with the RE272 sub-bass content and most especially detail, so I for one am happy with the bass it has to offer and it evens works in genres like trance, that's just me.
 
Hifiman received a lot of returns on their RE0, most customers saying it was lacking in bass, so I assume you're having a similiar experience now with the RE272, I guess it can't be helped and others will just have to witness your experience and take caution!
 
By the way, I looked at your inventory to check how "bassy" it was.
 
How do the RE272 comapre to the JH16, JH13 and JH5???? (not specifically bass, just overall?)

 
Edit:
Quote:

If bass is important to you, definitely get the P. Even if amping both, the P will be a little bassier sounding which is a good thing with Etys.

 
So you picked up the Ety's as well... looking at your comment here, I'm curious what amplification you're using, you see, I didn't notice much difference in the bass between ER-4PT and the +75 ohm version, one thing I have noticed with the RE272 is that the bass is noticably weaker (too weak) directly out of my laptop HO jack, so I think it needs "some" kind of amplification, since the RE272 is 20(?) Ohm, it seems this is not an Ohm related issue, but rather amplification and driver related.  In my case I'm using the Teclast T51 DAP and there is a noticeable difference in bass versus my laptop jack, volume matched.
 
If I wasn't poisoned by audio, I'd think $249 was too expensive for the RE272, but irrespective of price I think Hifiman have made a really really nice IEM in the RE272 and I hope bass issues don't drive people away and force Hifiman to redesign it like they did with the RE0 and RE-Zero, because in the case of the RE272 they can't lower the Ohm so they'd have to change something else, like increasing the size of the driver!
 
 

 

[ClieOS]

Quote:

 
What I don't like:

1. Non-existent bass.  By far the weakest of anything I have ever put in my ears.  Almost thought they were deffective.
2. Awkward design which is keeping me from getting a decent fit.  If I "force" the fit, the bass is still weak.  Simply unacceptable IMHO.
3. If I push the volume or try to add bass EQ, they distort.  I suppose this is due to drivers being dynamic.
4. One of the modular cables I received does not work in one channel.

 

I find the bass amount of RE272 just a bit more than ER4P on a good source / amp (ER4P can sound a bit more bass on weak source). Granted neither really have a lot of bass, I still wonder if the weak bass is a result of not getting a good fit.
 
As for bass distortion on EQ, I wonder if it is source problem? If it is an iPod, the bass boost EQ distorts the bass regardless of what headphone you use.
 
One of the cable in the package has TRRS plug designed for balanced amp. It is normal to have only one channel (left) if you plug it in a common TRS socket.

 

[kiteki]

I agree, the bass on RE272 is just a tiny bit more than RE0, RE252, ER-4PT and ER-4PT/S.
 
I think they're all pretty much perfectly fine, but for someone coming from JH16 with over-enhanced sub-bass and 8 drivers I'm sure they couldn't stand the bass of any of the above.
 
I wish the RE272 had EX700 bass but meh... details!
 
 

 

[Spyro]

Very well may be fit related as I don't recall Etys being this bass "lite."
 
Say what you want about the Ipod "Classic" but I think it is a very good sounding player.  RE272 is the first IEM in my catalog I have heard distortion when adding EQ.  And using both gain switches on the Ibasso T3 results in heavy distortion.  I've used ER4 on "hip hop" setting with no distortion.  Or no distortion like I hear with RE272.
 
I prefer all JH IEM's I have owned 10 times as much.  No comparison at all to my ears.
 
The sound is so far away from what I would consider acceptable I have no desire to even burn them in.

 

[tuahogary]

I too unfortunately had a bad experience with the RE272. The only reasonable explanation I can find is that I got sent a faulty unit. So that might be unfortunately your case as well Spyro.

 

[kiteki]

Spyro, try doing a test tone sweep, it's like checking if the colours on a TV are working
 
Scroll down this page and hover your mouse over the "logarithmic" 20Hz-20kHz tone sweep http://www.audiocheck.net/testtones_sinesweep20-20k.php
 
What does it sound like, at the start of the sweep?

 

[Spyro]

It starts out quiet and low and winds up seemingly slightly louder to a very high frequency like a dog whistle.  No gaps or peaks....very fluid.

 

[Pianist]

Wow, that's really odd. I don't hear any bass distortion whatsoever with my RE272s. It's one of cleanest lows I've ever heard.

 

[tinyman392]

Quote:

Wow, that's really odd. I don't hear any bass distortion whatsoever with my RE272s. It's one of cleanest lows I've ever heard.

I'd have to assume it's the iPod.  It makes just about every IEM I have distort on the bass when using EQs (Only during iOS 5 beta1 or iOS 3 or below though).  The newer iOS has a different EQ setting that works differently, it reduces the EQ instead of boosting up (IE for bass boost, it'll gradually lower everything from the bass on up; where the 16Hz is at 0dB and it goes down from there).  IDk if the iPod Classics do this on the EQ, if they do, he should hear no distortion.  If they are still going old school (iOS 3 or below styled), then he'll hear distortion.
 
EDIT: Please note I don't own RE272s.  This is what I've generally realized about my IEMs in general.

 

[esanthosh]

Quote:

I too unfortunately had a bad experience with the RE272. The only reasonable explanation I can find is that I got sent a faulty unit. So that might be unfortunately your case as well Spyro.

 
I thought of that too. But then, there are many reasonable explanations as far as forming an opinion on IEM goes...
 

1. Source (That is why I ran it across sources, something I usually don't do)
2. Fit (It was not an issue at all for me)
3. Tip (I used Medium, but most here use bi-flange)
4. Reviewer / Expectation Bias (How much bass quantity is "right" for you? What are the benchmarks for what you consider as good quality / quantity bass?)
5. IEMs you are coming from (After a week of FX700, try RE272
   
   . But, I stopped listening to IEMs about 4-5 days before I got the sample just to get rid of it - at least as much as I can. Also, I am coming from XCited, XCape, RE0, RE-ZERO before that)
6. Faulty unit (We will know in a while when the next 2-3 reviewers post their impressions)

 
@Spyro,
 
I don't think I heard any bass distortions with RE272. Can you try it with any other source on flat EQ? But the FR sweep is how I heard it too - no annoying spikes or peaks.

 

[Pianist]

RE272 has about the right amount of bass to my ears - neither emphasized, nor recessed. Just about neutral. I can enjoy all kinds of music with them fine from classical and jazz to rock to trance with the EQ on flat.

 

[kiteki]

 
Quote:

It starts out quiet and low and winds up seemingly slightly louder to a very high frequency like a dog whistle.  No gaps or peaks....very fluid.

 
Sounds like it's working then.

 

[Spyro]

Okay, then perhaps I have a bad pair.  Throw in the fact that I also received a bad cable and don't care for the fit and they are going back.