[rwest1389]

I personally am not crazy about its sound sig but it seems like everything you want (fun, soundstage, not too much isolation, clarity, bass) can be found in the glofied vibes. It seems like you need not look any further than the Vibe appreciation thread to be totally convinced

 

[saberliner]

don't get me wrong armature drivers are probably the best, just because of there sheer accuracy. the difference between the ue10's/e500 and ety4's is that they(UE,shure) use a armature driver designed to be used in a IEM. ety's are the same ones they use in their hearing aids.
which is why they have such profound audio accuracy, but lack "stage" "signature" and other thing's could could be in parenthesis, that people attribute to a personal like/dislike in a IEM.

@slides
if your looking for a accurate/fun/get-your-feet-wet IEM for 100 bucks...im not sure, i do enjoy the UE-5eb.
though, if you want to spend 200-300 id really go for the westone um'2s or UE-pro5's.
UE-pro's (i think )have more rumbly/visceral bass. they also have a replaceable cord, which is awesome
the UM2's are brighter and fit in your ear much better, you can fall asleep with them on and they wont poke.
id also say the UM2's are more accurate and crisp. though they are quite brittle...

all about personal preference...

 

[3X0]

The JBL Reference 220 is supposedly cleaner and more detailed than the V-Moda Vibe.

The reason I'm suggesting these options is because they have dynamic elements that contribute to the feeling of visceral bass.

In addition, it's not that easy to distinguish whether you want euphony or fidelity. My Etymotic ER4P is not very euphonic IMHO. They're very enlightening for symphonies and complex compositions, but they're far from fun.

 

[bellsprout]

Quote:

Originally Posted by saberliner /img/forum/go_quote.gif don't get me wrong armature drivers are probably the best, just because of there sheer accuracy. the difference between the ue10's/e500 and ety4's is that they(UE,shure) use a armature driver designed to be used in a IEM. ety's are the same ones they use in their hearing aids. which is why they have such profound audio accuracy, but lack "stage" "signature" and other thing's could could be in parenthesis, that people attribute to a personal like/dislike in a IEM.

well i guess sound stage isn't my #1 priority in choosing an iem. don't get me wrong - i prefer to listen to cans (or speaker systems if they didn't cost so goddam much for same fidelity reproduction as a decent cans), because of the sound stage above anything else. but all iem's have a small sound stage - they truly fall behind in that area no surprises. but if lack of soundstage perturbs me so much, i'd use cans in my portable setup.

listening to er-4s is a different experience from full size cans. the sound is "in my head", but the imaging is superbly controlled. instrument separation is achieved with surgical precision. to me, such imaging is a different kind of sound stage.

ive heard sf5. i think it tries too hard to be cans. er-4s holds its own against cans in a different way. i think that er-4s are better iem's (not for the reason just mentioned - that's not bad in any way). sf5's are quite dark and i'm even counting the bass impact as a positive, but there's a difference in fidelity between the 2 phones.

i'm all for bass impact, sound stage, etc. and i do believe multi drivers can be better than single drivers. i'd love to have e500's or ue10s, but in the $150ish price region, i think er-4's are the best iem's.

btw how can anything "lack signature"?

 

[saberliner]

if you look at the technical specs you will see a waveform reproduction chart.

I.E
http://www.ultimateears.com/custom/i..._PRO_chart.gif

the signature of a IEM is derived by how the armature is tuned, placed, and ported.
some are specifically tuned/placed/ported to focus on specific frequency ranges.

every IEM's is different.
porting makes a huge difference because it can shape the waveform to make it transparent or can distill bass (blend frequency's for more punch) or shape 30-160-250htz range.

also the voltage divider used inside of the IEM makes a large difference.
this allows the IEM to achieve it's desired tone with out amplification though "soft"(increasing wave form with out proportional current) amplification.

 

[Slides]

Ok, sorry for being a bug, but just to clarify:

JBL Reference 220 vs. V-moda Vibes

I take it the sound signature is close among both these options, right?

If so, which one is more comfortable to wear and listen to (less fatigue and no muddy sound).

I'm leaning towards the Vibes right now.

 

[saberliner]

sorry, i have no experience with either...
i've heard lots of good about both, though.

 

[vYu223]

Quote:

Originally Posted by saberliner /img/forum/go_quote.gif the difference between the ue10's/e500 and ety4's is that they(UE,shure) use a armature driver designed to be used in a IEM. ety's are the same ones they use in their hearing aids.

Are these statements true?

 

[bellsprout]

all phones have a sound signature. some are more coloured and some stay faithful to the recording, but both are signatures. er-4 colours the sound less sure.

keep in mind that headphones are systems. the signal out should as closely as possible resemble the signal in. the "holy grail" of all sound reproduction devices is one which produces an output signal identical to the input. not only will the frequency response be flat, the unit will also respond to changes in the input transient instantly with no overshoot. such a thing is impossible with an open loop system. but if u listen to a perfect recording through these things, it'll be the best thing ull hear.

the reason coloured headphones are made is because even a perfect headphone will sound crap with a bad recording. colourisations "cover up" these parts of the recording to deliver a euphonic experience. neutrality and detail is twofold, but with a better recording/source, the better it gets. because of this, i prefer technical perfection to euphony

 

[saberliner]

yeah i've seen pictures of a ety4 gutted, same driver their hearing aids use.
poke around on the web, you should find a lot.

i'm a EE not a historian/theology teacher.....dont know much about the holy grail...sorry.

though a flat sound waveform can be desired, it depends on many factors as to what is "better",
like bellsprout said, every one has a preference.
on that note.
if you look at the waveform of 600+ custom IEM's they all have a heavily mechanically (porting/tuning/audio-acoustic filters) altered sound.
a flat waveform is typically desired if you are in a audiolab where you have access to hardware equalizers, amplifiers, monitoring software/hardware,waveform dividers,psychoacoustic editors.
with them you can listen to your "raw" PCM audio and modulate/edit it to your liking.

back to the subject of the thread,
if you are listening to from your small portable media player, id recommend something with a low impedance.
if they are active headphones for you, make sure they will fitwell, and (i recommend) a replaceable cable.

UE,westone,JBL,ETY,v-moda...theirs alot of them.
stay away from shure...there lower cost headphones are dreadful.
a good place to shop.
http://www.earphonesolutions.com/

 

[Slides]

Yeah, I don't mind the sound being a little "colored", as long as it's not muddy and just god awful. I'm most likely going for the Vibes. I hope they're the right ones for me.