[lontonglah]

My PL50 just gave up on me (~ 10 months), suddenly there is just no sound anymore from the left side. It's weird though, as I thought I've already taken quite good care of it, ie. always plug out when it's not being used and keep it in a pouch/bag. Oh well, my 2 previous IEMs also have the same problem (XBi, PL30). Yeah, I've been sticking to budget IEM till then, but I think the timing is about right to take the leap of faith now. I'm really interested in SM3 due to all the raving reviews (yet to audition it though), however, the last thing I want in my mind if I were to get such IEM is if it suddenly spoilt and I gotta send it back for repair and bear the shipping cost too. It would be quite troublesome right?
Looking around the market, there's not many notable IEM with detachable cables, apart from UM3x, SE535, SA6. So, what do you guys think? should i go for it? any significant  from detachable cable or should I just stick to the "conventional" IEM?
Will really appreciate your inputs

 

[james444]

^ The best bang/buck with detachable cables are the HJE900.

 

[Photofan1986]

I think detachable cable is not a be-all-end solution. I had the SF3 and SF5 pro with detachable cable, and not only the stock cable was pure crap, but the connector to the phone did not withstand a couple of disconnections/reconnections. Then I bought the IE8 with detachable cable, and while the cable and the connector is much, much better than on the UE, I still have some contact problems. What I mean is that were you have a contact...you can have a bad contact. Now I'm happily using my SM3, with no detachable cable, and I must say that I have no single problem (just maybe the short cable after the Y split). No bad contact whatsoever, a very good quality cable, and if there's a problem, Earsonics will take care of the problem (for about the same price as a good cable, ie the Sennheiser IE8 cable).
 
That's from my experience.

 

[lontonglah]

thanks for the input guys
yeah, i think there're no perfect IEM (I also heard that the old batch of UM3X also has has contact problem) guess i'll just have to balance the pros & cons => leaning towards SM3

btw, James444, do u have any idea on the durability of the connector for HJE900? it seems like a really good IEM at that price.