jedovaty
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2011
- Posts
- 6
- Likes
- 0
Hi,
For the last year, the default ear-bud headset that came with my phone (brand doesn't matter) has been busted so that only the non-speaker side worked, I would push that into my ear, and hang the other piece off my glasses. Yes, many a passing driver would snicker at the site. I also complained rather charmingly how I could barely hear with those fargen ear pieces, and always had to try stuffing it down my ear canal, but obviously the puck was too large. Last week, it finally fell apart, and my brother conveniently suggested I look at "in-ear" pieces. I purchased some cheapo thing with a skull on the back for $10 to tie me over, and then stumbled on this website. Kinda wish I hadn't..
Here's my music range: classical, rock, and various other (pretty much everything except R&B and rap). Classical music includes piano, guitar, symphonies, opera - the whole gamut. I do tend to lean towards a slightly lush midrange, but do like clarity and detail but can't stand sibliance. My home audio system and theater is comprised of several Ascend Acoustics Sierra-1's (internet dealer, really good quality stuff), though I was really really wanting to get sunfire crw-3 on-walls, however the cost was just more than I wanted to pay. But those ribbon tweeters on the sunfires.. my goodness they were nice... gave me goosebumps when I demoed piano music.
90% use of the IEM will be for telephone use with only the mic-side earpiece in, so I think the $10 skull "ink" are actually sufficient, however, I DO like nice things, and travel frequently - just never bothered to listen to music while flying because I had no idea these IEM things actually existed and I could never hear the music while on a plane. Isolation is important, however not the motivating factor sinec I will be using ONE side when driving for phone purposes...
Research this last weekend has led me down a few tiers, and I'm not really sure what's the way I should go:
1. $100 range, complete with Mic, and narrowed down to these three:
a) mee cc51p - concerned about size comments, I use the "small" ear tip that came with the skull thingy, though the medium one fits it's a little uncomfortable.
b) thinksound t0s2 - forums read there are options "better" in the price range ??
c) Nuforce 700m - new, not very many reviews
-- bottom line, I think these are pretty comparable, I should just chose one and go with it.
2a. Buy a $100-200 IEM, and graft a mic piece onto it (i have soldering skills - note that I would NOT take apart the bud itself, but rather cut the wire's and make my own detachables); despite all my research, I was a little confused here and unable to narrow down anything as it seems each review of the sub-$100 models compete with those in this range, and each review seems to indicate there are other, better pieces in the price range.. so it sounds like maybe I should look in the $150-250 range.. hmm. Alternative, I could get monsters with control talk in this range without any surgery, HOWEVER, I like the smaller companies where you can meet the owners. I come with a pre-existing bias against monster, probably a stupid idea anyway.
2b. Same as 2a, but instead of grafting, find one of those mic adapters. Shure has one for $79 or something, I read there are cheap ones available on amazon/fleabay, but I haven't found any (my search terms don't seem to work.. help?).
3. Stick with the cheapo's. I actually bought a few cheapos to make sure I have headsets everywhere (car, work, travel bag) as I'm somewhat absent minded most of the time. Obviously I wouldn't do this with an expensive set.
I understand the diminishing returns, and do believe that exists, just that I can't really "demo" IEMs like I did speakers, so it's hard to find that point which makes sense for me. The cheapo route is probably the right one, however and again, I do like nice things.
Any further thoughts, something I'm missing?
Thanks for reading and your time sifting through my babble.
For the last year, the default ear-bud headset that came with my phone (brand doesn't matter) has been busted so that only the non-speaker side worked, I would push that into my ear, and hang the other piece off my glasses. Yes, many a passing driver would snicker at the site. I also complained rather charmingly how I could barely hear with those fargen ear pieces, and always had to try stuffing it down my ear canal, but obviously the puck was too large. Last week, it finally fell apart, and my brother conveniently suggested I look at "in-ear" pieces. I purchased some cheapo thing with a skull on the back for $10 to tie me over, and then stumbled on this website. Kinda wish I hadn't..
Here's my music range: classical, rock, and various other (pretty much everything except R&B and rap). Classical music includes piano, guitar, symphonies, opera - the whole gamut. I do tend to lean towards a slightly lush midrange, but do like clarity and detail but can't stand sibliance. My home audio system and theater is comprised of several Ascend Acoustics Sierra-1's (internet dealer, really good quality stuff), though I was really really wanting to get sunfire crw-3 on-walls, however the cost was just more than I wanted to pay. But those ribbon tweeters on the sunfires.. my goodness they were nice... gave me goosebumps when I demoed piano music.
90% use of the IEM will be for telephone use with only the mic-side earpiece in, so I think the $10 skull "ink" are actually sufficient, however, I DO like nice things, and travel frequently - just never bothered to listen to music while flying because I had no idea these IEM things actually existed and I could never hear the music while on a plane. Isolation is important, however not the motivating factor sinec I will be using ONE side when driving for phone purposes...
Research this last weekend has led me down a few tiers, and I'm not really sure what's the way I should go:
1. $100 range, complete with Mic, and narrowed down to these three:
a) mee cc51p - concerned about size comments, I use the "small" ear tip that came with the skull thingy, though the medium one fits it's a little uncomfortable.
b) thinksound t0s2 - forums read there are options "better" in the price range ??
c) Nuforce 700m - new, not very many reviews
-- bottom line, I think these are pretty comparable, I should just chose one and go with it.
2a. Buy a $100-200 IEM, and graft a mic piece onto it (i have soldering skills - note that I would NOT take apart the bud itself, but rather cut the wire's and make my own detachables); despite all my research, I was a little confused here and unable to narrow down anything as it seems each review of the sub-$100 models compete with those in this range, and each review seems to indicate there are other, better pieces in the price range.. so it sounds like maybe I should look in the $150-250 range.. hmm. Alternative, I could get monsters with control talk in this range without any surgery, HOWEVER, I like the smaller companies where you can meet the owners. I come with a pre-existing bias against monster, probably a stupid idea anyway.
2b. Same as 2a, but instead of grafting, find one of those mic adapters. Shure has one for $79 or something, I read there are cheap ones available on amazon/fleabay, but I haven't found any (my search terms don't seem to work.. help?).
3. Stick with the cheapo's. I actually bought a few cheapos to make sure I have headsets everywhere (car, work, travel bag) as I'm somewhat absent minded most of the time. Obviously I wouldn't do this with an expensive set.
I understand the diminishing returns, and do believe that exists, just that I can't really "demo" IEMs like I did speakers, so it's hard to find that point which makes sense for me. The cheapo route is probably the right one, however and again, I do like nice things.
Any further thoughts, something I'm missing?
Thanks for reading and your time sifting through my babble.
