[JosephKim]

Trying to decide.. is it worth the extra $200 to upgrade to the SM3? If its a small difference in SQ, I think I could wait. But if you guys think its a world of difference I might save money to buy the SM3 instead of the re-zero

 

[Trysaeder]

It's head-fi, EVERYTHING is exaggerated. Even with that exaggeration, it seems that people do like the SM3, but the difference is for yourself to hear.

 

[TheGame21x]

I haven't heard the SM3 and do not assume to know how it sounds, so take the following words with a grain of salt (or a few barrel's worth). The further up you go in Hi-Fi, the smaller the jump in sound quality gets. Hi-Fi is all about diminishing returns and with that in mind, I don't imagine the jump from the RE-ZERO/RE0 to be that big. The SM3 is undoubtedly more refined all around (from what I've read) but I imagine the difference between them to be astronomical.

 

[Hero Kid]

Having not heard either of the IEMs you mentioned I will say this. Jump on the price of the SM3s from whatever that US reseller is (mental blanking).
You'll only wonder what you are missing out on and kick yourself when you find they have gone back to their normal price.

 

[mvw2]

Well, the RE-ZERO is reportedly a bit different than the RE0 and the SM3 is certainly different from either.  I wasn't a personal fan of the RE0, although I understand why it's very liked.  The RE-ZERO apparently improves upon a number of the key "flaws" that I see in the RE0, but so did the RE252 which was sort of a "if you didn't find the RE0 to your fancy, try this" type of option.  There is a lot of praise for the SM3, but there has historically been a lot of praise for a lot of the high end earphones.  Better unfortunately is a relative term.  There is a raw sense of a headphone performing well and being minimally flawed.  A lot of earphones fit well here.  Then there's the matter of gearing or flavor of sound, the intent of the design of the earphone to do a certain thing.  Personal preference plays a role here.  What is better becomes dependent upon what product fits your particular preference in sound.  I can view 10 earphones I've used and see them all very near the same level from a holistic standpoint of performance.  What differentiates each then becomes their own particular takes on sound reproduction.  What I like the most becomes a matter of what gearing best fits my taste.
 
So this argument instead turns to you and your tastes in music instead of which earphone you should get.
 
What kind of sound are you looking for?  What kind of presentation?  What do you want to hear?  What don't you want to hear?

 

[Coupe]

I love the re 0 and the re zero. The zero is easier to run and the mids are more forward. The bass is a bit better. It's all about getting the right tips. Right how I'm using the stock double flanges with good insertion and the bass is delightful for trance. Zeros have a bit more detail, but can get slightly too bright at high volumes. If the sm3 is better than this... WOW!

 

[silverkaze]

Quote:

Trying to decide.. is it worth the extra $200 to upgrade to the SM3? If its a small difference in SQ, I think I could wait. But if you guys think its a world of difference I might save money to buy the SM3 instead of the re-zero

It is not a small difference in SQ, because their sound signature is VERY different. I think re0 is really monitor-like sounding, it is thin and analytical. On the other hand, SM3 sounds way more fuller and musical. Also I do not get enough bass response from re0, but SM3 offers the right amount of bass for me. If you like the sound signature of your re0, why not just stick with it? I wasn't satisfies with re0's thin sound and lack of bass, so I upgraded to sm3 and now I am very happy with them. Another thing that makes the SM3 very enjoyable is that I feel like I am listening to music instead of listening to headphones, after listening to the sm3 then going back to the re0, I feel that there's some sibilance in the sound especially in vocals that draws me back from the music world and put me back between a pair of iems. Once again, it is all my personal preference.

 

[JosephKim]

i hate to drop 300 on the SM3 without ever hearing it. ah decisions decisions.

 

[slaters70]

If this helps, I owned the SM3 and while there were moments of awe, on balance I just decided the Fischer Audio DBA-02s were more to my tastes. I have the RE-Zeros, and they are somewhat on par with the Ety MC5s I also own, very close. But the DBAs separate themselves from those two IEMs for me, because the FA phones are a little more dynamic (in terms of sound, not drivers) and yet remain detailed with a sparkle I want from my IEMs. In the end, I decided to sell the SM3s because I was thinking about moving to a custom, even the JH5s 0r 3X10s, but now, I am not so sure. I am very happy with that trio of IEMs. In fact, I bought a second pair of DBAs with the money from the SM3s, with cash left over for a nice DAC cable.

 

[rawrster]

Quote:

i hate to drop 300 on the SM3 without ever hearing it. ah decisions decisions.

Welcome to the world of earphones not including most of Asia and Portland. I have never bought an earphone before hearing them out first. The only earphone I own that I've heard before getting it was the Coppers but I did not pay for them so that doesn't count. Every earphone regardless of price that I've bought I've never heard before buying. That is why you need to find someone with similar tastes and preferences to you and do lots of reading and research.
 
I do own the RE-Zero and have been listening to them a lot for the last week or so. They are quite good and imo shouldn't cost 99 bucks but Hifiman has been known to have their earphones priced very competitively. They definitely are not my best earphone in my collection and I wouldn't expect them to. The Coppers, DBA02, e-Q7 all are better but the Zero is very good and the difference between them is a lot less than it should be given the 99 price tag and the price of the other 3 although the DBA02 are cheaper than the other 2.

 

[koonhua90]

Quote:

Welcome to the world of earphones not including most of Asia and Portland. I have never bought an earphone before hearing them out first. The only earphone I own that I've heard before getting it was the Coppers but I did not pay for them so that doesn't count. Every earphone regardless of price that I've bought I've never heard before buying. That is why you need to find someone with similar tastes and preferences to you and do lots of reading and research.
 
I do own the RE-Zero and have been listening to them a lot for the last week or so. They are quite good and imo shouldn't cost 99 bucks but Hifiman has been known to have their earphones priced very competitively. They definitely are not my best earphone in my collection and I wouldn't expect them to. The Coppers, DBA02, e-Q7 all are better but the Zero is very good and the difference between them is a lot less than it should be given the 99 price tag and the price of the other 3 although the DBA02 are cheaper than the other 2.

Even in US it's not that easy to audition certain earphones before buying them. Once you get the hang of it, then it will be easier to identify how an new earphone sounds before buying it. And Joseph, if you don't want to spend so much, the DBA-02 is not bad at all.

 

[rawrster]

Well I mentioned Portland where they have 32ohm audio and that's the only place I know of that lets you audition earphones and I don't consider Best Buy and their beats an option Although the FS is your friend since we can;t audition. You can buy used and sell at a similar price that you bought it for and lose very little.

 

[koonhua90]

Quote:

Well I mentioned Portland where they have 32ohm audio and that's the only place I know of that lets you audition earphones and I don't consider Best Buy and their beats an option Although the FS is your friend since we can;t audition. You can buy used and sell at a similar price that you bought it for and lose very little.

Well you're lucky then. Buying it used or buying it new doesn't make much difference, presuming that you can sell it near sale price. By the way Rawrster, are you gonna post some impressions and reviews of your custom earphone? 

 

[rawrster]

I will eventually post some impressions probably in that appreciation thread if I can find it although I'm not sure about the review since Livewires is a company I would want to deal with in terms of bad CS and the excessive wait. I got it remolded so I had around a 5-6 week turnaround from it shipping from Asia to it becoming my own customs. I'm actually working on the RE-Zero more but these customs are making it quite difficult but I guess that's a good problem to be having

 

[bisayaboi]

I'm also interested in hearing some comparisons.. I was wondering the same thing right now.