[stukovx]

I'm about to let go of my home set up of x-fi->great march->heed->701's and wanted to go portable. I plan to buy a nano with no amp and was looking for an IEM with the same sound signature as my 701's. My max budget is probably 200$ish.

thanks in advance

 

[benjamind]

Unfortunately IEMs don't really do imaging well. Soundstage is compressed and narrow, even if the bass and overall frequency response is good. With something like a Supermini Xin amp with crossfeed enabled you can get okay sound from an IEM but in my own experience, even with a very good IEM (the Sensaphonic 2XS) I can't even get any soundstage out of it. They are nice and musical and do their job of isolating very well (my IEMs shave about 28dB off outside sound so I can do things like mow lawns for my grandparents, etc while listening to music but I prefer open headphones for listening in quiet places), I think IEMs were originally designed for vocalists when they want something to isolate themselves from the main monitors.

For train and plane/bus trips they are great, but for everything else I'd always use open headphones. Closed headphones don't generally sound as good as open headphones in my own experience.

For imaging and soundstage you want open headphones. I've heard Ultrasone headphones and they really do imaging very well, I'd say they are even comparable to nearfield speakers!

Ben

 

[catscratch]

I disagree. I think IEMs do imaging exceptionally well, at least the ones with balanced armature drivers. Their soundstage is smallish and compressed (though with high end IEMs it doesn't have to be), but their imaging is razor sharp. Instruments are clearly separated in space and you can easily tell who was where in the recording venue, provided you listen to music that has some soundstage in the first place.

The ER-4P had excellent imaging from what I remember of it's sound, and the E500 is not bad at it either, with a wider and more open soundstage than the ER-4P. Unfortunately, I have no experience with the K701, so I can't suggest an IEM that sounds like it.

Don't expect the type of performance that you can get with a properly driven full-size hi-fi headphone, however, unless you spend serious money on a fully custom-molded IEM (like the Westone ES2).

 

[bellsprout]

Quote:

Originally Posted by catscratch /img/forum/go_quote.gif I disagree. I think IEMs do imaging exceptionally well, at least the ones with balanced armature drivers. Their soundstage is smallish and compressed (though with high end IEMs it doesn't have to be), but their imaging is razor sharp. Instruments are clearly separated in space and you can easily tell who was where in the recording venue, provided you listen to music that has some soundstage in the first place. The ER-4P had excellent imaging from what I remember of it's sound, and the E500 is not bad at it either, with a wider and more open soundstage than the ER-4P. Unfortunately, I have no experience with the K701, so I can't suggest an IEM that sounds like it. Don't expect the type of performance that you can get with a properly driven full-size hi-fi headphone, however, unless you spend serious money on a fully custom-molded IEM (like the Westone ES2).

agreed. er-4 separates instruments with surgical precision. u may say they don't have the biggest sound stage, but sound stage != imaging. sound stage is the illusion of openness, whereas imaging is realistic positioning of instruments. i think other gear (source, amp) has more to do with imaging than headphones.

anyway k701 and er-4s sounds about as close as full size open cans and iem's get (read: not very ... but still)

 

[65535]

I really like my E4's. And I would recommend them as a good iem.

 

[ZARIM]

I think soundstage on E4c and E500 are very open and instruments separation are excelent. I personely like E4c ultra wide soundstage(Shure mentioned too).

 

[EX-S]

It's also a broblem of mine,caz I still want to find something protable , isolation well,easy to drive,which I will use on HDV-cams.

These device ,with headphone output ,are not build for hi-fi & full size close back headphone.

May I use er4s on these device which can drive er4s good enough?

tks~

 

[Trager]

The Shure SE310 has a very good soundstage for IEMs, in my experience. Not as good as my AT A700-AD headphones, but that's to be expected. The audio-technicas are open phones and I bought them specifically because of their reputation for a huge and well defined soundstage. I do think the SE310 are at least as good as the Sennheiser HD280 Pros or Grade RS125 cans that I've tried, though.