[caimanjosh]

My IEM journey started because I'd been living in New York City for a while.  And one day while listening to the horrible racket of a subway train passing by, I thought "Man, it sure would be cool if I could get some headphones that also doubled as earplugs".  So I started with some internet research, and happily stumbled upon my first set of IEM's - Panasonic RPH-JE50's.  I didn't really like the sound signature that much - screechy mids, little bass - but loved the way that I could listen to things and block out the terrible cacophony of the city.  My wife liked the idea, too, and so I eventually got her a pair of EP-630's.  After I listened to those for a bit, I liked them so much that I got myself a pair too.  And so it's continued, to this day.
 
I maintain that anyone moving to NYC should automatically be gifted with a pair of IEM's, just to keep them sane amidst all the racket.  

 

[cnhardwick]

I guess my first IEM was the original JBuds. I got them on Amazon for $5 in the summer of 2009 and thought I was getting a steal. I quickly returned to the stock earbuds of my Sansa Clip as I did not much care for sticking something in my ear at first. When I lost the foam cushions to my earbuds, I decided the give the JBuds another shot and this time stuck with it long enough for my ears to adapt to having a foreign object stuck in them. The right earpiece gave out that fall so I started looking for a new pair and almost bought a pair of Skullcandy. Whew. I am glad I did a little research before pulling the trigger. I should have done a little more research though because after stumbling some old articles that recommended JVC Marshmallows as best $20 earphones I ran to Walmart and bought a pair. Not liking the memory foam though, I bought three more earphones that were once considered great bang for the buck on impulse, the Sennheiser CX300, the Creative EP-630, and the Acoustic Research RE09. I was happy with the EP-630 until Christmas time rolled around and I started looking for a pair of earphones for my mom and I picked up a pair of Zune Premium Headphones on sale. She did not like them though I got her pair of EP-630 instead and kept the Zune's for myself. I guess it was not until last summer that I stumbled upon head-fi only to discover I had been mistaken in thinking I had good budget earphones. Seeing how well the MEElectonics M6 was thought of and there being a sale on them, I grabbed a pair. I hated them at first. The highs were very harsh coming from EP-630. But remembering how I hated the JBuds at first I gave stuck with them until I could tolerate the harshness. Then I got the MEElectonics M9P for my iPod touch. Come Black Friday the $95 UE TripleFi 10 rolled around again which I had been kicking myself for missing for a year now. I jumped on it, but not quick enough so they were back order until after Christmas. In the mean time there was that MEElectronics month of deals in December. I bought the M11P+ and M2P. Then this year I bought a pair of Maximo iM-590 and Klipsch ProMedia both in the same day because they were on sale. Mostly recently MEElectronics sent me the CW31 for review. So that is pretty much where I am at to day. Yikes, just typing that up seeing how many earphones I have bought just in the last six months. I need help! Someone stop this addiction, please! My wallet cannot take much more of this as full time college student. I blame you for this head-fi! If only I could find an IEM with the sparkly highs if the TF10, the warm mids of the CW31 and the punchy bass of the iM-590 for under $100 I would be happy--for a few weeks anyway.

 

[esanthosh]

Quote:

sorry for asking this.....but out of curiosity, why did u sell the DDM (for which reason)

 
I loaned it to a friend who liked it more than I did. So, I let him keep it. DDM-2 was expected anyways

. I currently have my eyes set on EX-1000, so DDM2 is on the back burner for now.
 
 

 

[mnagali]

broke my iphone headset and was looking for a replacement.... since it was gonna cost me around ~$30, decided to see what else was around that price range and came upon Sennheiser MM50 iP discounted 60-70% off to around the same price.... my world = blown (never going back to ibuds)
 
.... and then came the Amazon TF10s sale (never going back to entry levels)
 
.... which I then had turned into customs (never going back to universals) ^__^

 

[TheDreamthinker]

Quote:

I loaned it to a friend who liked it more than I did. So, I let him keep it. DDM-2 was expected anyways

. I currently have my eyes set on EX-1000, so DDM2 is on the back burner for now.
 
 

 
Oh....very nice of you....

 
DDM2 sounds interesting......hopefully better isolation and fit
 
 

 
Quote:

broke my iphone headset and was looking for a replacement.... since it was gonna cost me around ~$30, decided to see what else was around that price range and came upon Sennheiser MM50 iP discounted 60-70% off to around the same price.... my world = blown (never going back to ibuds)
 
.... and then came the Amazon TF10s sale (never going back to entry levels)
 
.... which I then had turned into customs (never going back to universals) ^__^

 
That experience/promise, will cost u a pretty penny....

 

 

[mnagali]

yup, I'm planning on top tier customs as my next big plurge, when I can afford to do so
 
Quote:

That experience/promise, will cost u a pretty penny....

 

 

 

[davidcotton]

Started off with a pair of cx300's but didn't get on with them.  Then work situation changed and needed (wanted!)a set of headphones that could block out quite a bit of noise, so tried the cx300 ii's but again didn't get on with em.  Then got a pair of cx95's which were ok but didn't isolate enough for me so gave them to my dad who was after a pair.  So took the next step up and landed with a pair of Westone 2's.  Not had terribly good luck with those (nozzle broke off first set, right side died second set!), so in between the replacements I ended up with monster turbine, Radiopaq Jazz (bargain price of £30 or so but the right side fell to pieces which is where the 95s' came in) and sennheiser ie7s.  All (including westone surprisingly)have either had fit issues or don't isolate enough.  FWIW I've not paid (shures aside)full whack on any of the purchases and quite a few were more out of curiosity (7's!).   My latest purchase are the newly released shure se215.  My first shure's so will be interested to see how i get on.
 
It seems my journey has been influenced by fit and mechanical issues as much as any particular flavour of sound.  I do know that I tend toward the sennheiser warmer sound as much as anything.
 
My endgame purchase?  A pair of iems that are easy to put on and take off in a hurry, sound fantastic, isolate and are durable.  Oh and don't cost the earth, not too much to ask is it?  Whilst I love love love the idea of customs, hand on heart I really can't see them being practical enough for work use sadly.  Some days I'm left alone virtually the whole day, other times someones coming up to me every twenty minutes or so!
 
Cheers.

 

[kmhaynes]

My IEM journey began in 1975 or so when I bought a pair of Sennheiser HD424 headphones from a broke friend.  "WAIT! Those aren't IEMs!!"  I know, but they trained my high school brain to know what good sound sounded like!
 
In the early 90's I bought my 2nd or 3rd Sony CD player, but it came with some Fontopia earbuds (instead of the portable over-the-ears), and I was hooked on portable sound.
 
Sometime around 2003 or so, I heard the Shure e3c (or something equivalent), and was amazed with how clear and detailed they were, but I wasn't able to get any at the time.  My first actual iEM/canal-phone was CX-300 back around 2005 or so -- I knew they were bombastic, so I slowly started improving phones (and DAPs), and the Ety HF5 is my current ear candy.
 
O, I picked up a Grado MS-1i along the way!

 

[immtbiker]

(2000) E4P's > E4C's > E500's > 1996 National Meet free impressions to get a pair of UE10's > (2010) JH13's. 
 
Also, I won a free pair of Shure E535's from the raffle at Canjam '10 in Chicago (I know, I'm a lucky bastar(d).
 
They serve a very good purpose, and fill a void quite nicely.
 
Now that I think about it, I have an excessive amount of IEMs. Then there's the Head-Direct RE-Zeros and RE262's that I have on loan from the meet.
OK, I'm going to shut up now, but that's my IEM history.

 

[DervishD]

I don't clearly remember which were my first IEMs. Probably some cheapies with horrible sound signature. The thing is that later I tried some JVC model which my cat decided to eat after a day or so (not unusual for me...) and I then though that IEM were the way to go.
 
But the first IEM that decided me for this kind of phones were the JVC Air Cushion, no doubt. They were my first "good sounding" phones, even though I've surpassed their quality many times with future models I've owned. But they gave me isolation, great sound quality for the price and a comfort I thought it was impossible to obtain with portable phones.
 
Later I had a problem with the SoundMAGIC PL30, they caused a problem in my ear canal, to the point of having to get rid of IEMs for some time. But earbuds didn't provide the isolation I wanted (of course) and circums were to bulky to go around with them on, so after some time I decided to try IEMs again, and I hope this time is forever.
 
I have some problems with IEMs, though, because my ear canals have weird shapes and the left phone tends to go out, but the advantages compensate these problems.