[brokenwallet]

The ep-630 just got here. Something i noticed was that these didn't have the creative A logo on the outside round part. Only the L and R markings. Also the cord is not an equal length one like on DigDub's pictures. They seem to be made to go around the neck, the left is shorter than the right. Anyone else got the same thing?

Aside from that the sound is good. Highs and midrange are not bad compared to my koss clipons. The bass is there and fairly good, tight drum bass. Right now the sound is close to what an aftermarket car stereo would sound like, just without a super deep bass of a subwoofer. Intimate presentation, like inside a compact car. What it's lacking is that added airy ambiance the koss open phones have. Comparing to the looser fitting ksc-50 (the closest phone from my reach at the moment), i can tell the lack of soundstage. But soundstage isn't everything, and i can live with these if there was never a portapro/ksc-line.

Isolation, it's been a hit and miss so far, but i haven't tried anything else but the stock rubber (without the foam sleeving they sent me, no patience for putting earphone foams on the rubber sleeves). When music is playing i can't make out what other people are talking about, but i can hear them as mumblings in the background. When the music is not as loud or between tracks i can hear them at about 90% (this is in a quiet room, haven't tried these in a busier environment yet).

Microphonics was really bothersome the first minute i was trying the fit w/o music. But it's not much of a problem once there's music. Not much different than using earphones (last time i listened to cheap sony earphones was around 8-10 years ago). I guess my mind is already programmed to just ignore the microphonics when moving about while concentrating on the music. I guess this will depend on how sensitive you are to disturbunces like these. If you can shrug it off, then it's no big deal.

Actually, i just tried something i saw on the more expensive iems, and it helped with microphonics. Positioned the cord stalks forward from my ears and have the cords loop around my ear, like wearing clipons (lol, i'm so sold on clip-ons, i even like my in-earphones worn like clip-ons). This takes care about 50% of the more annoying microphonics i get when turning my head around.

Keep in mind this just my initial impressions, the sound did get better from the first minute to now (about 50 mins). So far i'm not bothered with the fit of canalphones like these, not too different from wearing earphones, but that's just me. Anyway, can't wait till the hd-201 and xin mini-3 to get here so i can do a more thorough comparison. That'll be sometime during xmas break.

Oh yeah, these observations are from sony d-34 lineout to a late 70's integrated stereo home amp.

 

[Greisen]

Odd, mine has that creative logo on it, and it also has the same cord length, on both sides. There must be to different editions. Hmmm…

 

[gshan]

Hi brokenwallet,

Where did you get your EP-630s from?

It sounds like only the Asian and Euro versions are even cord and with the A logo on the driver housings?

 

[brokenwallet]

I got mine from ebay (direct from china), the seller is also selling the ath-ck5, rp-hje50, mx500 and others for fairly cheap. The idea that these might be knock-offs did cross my mind, but it could also be that they buy up surpluss and slightly irregular batches of products from the manufacturing plant that the brand names use. Maybe it's a batch with unequal cord length that in the end Creative decided against, i have no idea.

These did came in a sealed plastic pouch, almost like an anti-static bag. Silver on one side, clear on the other. There's a creative decal on one corner of the clear side, and came with a an extension cord with 90 degree male jack inside. On a seperate zip loc type plastic pouch there's the pair of crappy foams.

I'll try and take a pic later.

 

[DigDub]

maybe you got the oem version?

 

[apnk]

At the guys ebay store he has some md33's for 39.99, same as audiocubes but shipping is $15 not $10 like audiocubes.

 

[brokenwallet]

I actually wanted to get these over the md33, not just for the cheaper price, but because of that 4-pole issue with the sharps. I don't have equipment w/4 pole jacks. With these i don't have to modify the poles.

Btw, does the retail ep-630 come with the extra rubber sleeves? These sure don't. But i'm not too worried about it, can't get either 630 or md33 for $35 shipped any other way (not in continental US, not as of this moment anyway).
But that ebay seller's panasonic rp-hje50 is stated and pictured to come w/3 different size pads (sleeves?).

Here's the pic of the back and cord, also the plastic bag.
[img=http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/6982/ep6307td.th.jpg]

 

[gshan]

Most if not all semi-canalphones like Sharp MD33, Sony EX, Panasonic RPHJE always come with 3 sizes of the silicone sleeves - S/M/L

I thought the EP-630s came with all three sizes. Maybe you should email the seller about it.

The Sharp MD33 also comes with a 3pole/4pole adapter, so you won't have to worry about modifying anything.

 

[DigDub]

the ep630 comes with 3 sizes of sleeves.

 

[afbug]

They sure don't look like the EP630 i've got. Mine are equal lengths, with logo and comes with 3 pairs of tips. They look like funny to me, but it sounds good? Do you have a pic of its driver? What is it covered? Mash grill?

 

[brokenwallet]

Yes, it does have the metal mesh grille. The plastic sound port/tunnel looks the same as on DigDub's md33/ep630 comparison pics. I don't really feel a need to do any of the mods yet, so i can't tell you how the drivers look like.

Can someone take a detailed pic of where the left and right cables meet? i want to know if the rectangular plastic is made the same way. And also the plastic part of the jack, does it have the same design?

The sound, all i can say is it's not bad. With the right eq tweak on fb2k (my pc setup) it comes close to the midrange/mid-hi range of the kosses. And the bass is clean and tight. If i tweak the mid bass up, i do hear it more, but not as natural sounding as the kosses. i'll dust up my old sony cheap earphones just to make sure i'm less biased from the opinions of this forum. The sonys are missing one of the grey rubber pieces (the one that's under the foams), but they should give a good representation of most cheap earphones.

On a slight off-topic note, for some reason i have this need to plug my ears with these everytime i look at the rubber sleeves. Even when not connected to a source.

 

[brokenwallet]

Ok, so canalphone vs earphones aren't exactly a fair comparison. The earphones are as midrange happy as i remembered them. It's like listening to a cheap sony boombox, the really cheap stuff, no bass impact, no crystal treble chime/sparkle. While these ep-630's i have, fake or not, are like listening in a compact car with good-enough aftermarket speakers/drivers. Tighter drum bass than the kosses, but slightly boomier. To me it does sound as if there's a mid bass woofer in the trunk of the car, hence the boomy nature on deeper thumps. I'm not saying it's ghetto subwoofer boomy here, just boomier than the drum bass from the kosses, but at the same time tighter. In comparison, the ksc-50s are like listening to good home speakers in a mid size room.

I do agree with the other similar canalphone reviews, having a good seal is important to get the best drum and bass out of these. Haven't tried wetting the rubber yet, but i could never get a good seal with those cheap foam covers on.

I'll try tracking down someone locally that have a retail md33.

 

[n00b]

LOL, I'll trade you for my md-33s. I like the all-black look of those.

I just tried putting regular foams on md-33s, those are completely useless. I can't even imagine those staying in your ears. Even if you secured it with a rubber band, it wouldn't work right I don't think..

 

[kvman]

Why people are so sure that EP-630 and MD-33 are the same buds? The whole net now seems to think so (because of head-fi and particularly Digdub), though we have hard figures: that MD-33 has 9mm drivers and EP-630 has 8mm, and drivers are the main thing. They could use the same OEM plastic that covers the driver, but that not makes them the same. Someone recently said here that Sony began putting in their newly produced EX51 drivers from EX81, and while "old" EX51 and "new" EX51 would look the same in everything, they would be totally different phones because of different drivers.

Also I read many people's opinions on their buds, and statistically, owners of MD-33 are more than impressed with their phones, while, owners of EP-630 are say something like "no great mids, no great highs, good for bass, so-so details", and after that add "but great sound after all" (ed. yeah, how the "clones" of the great MD-33 can be not great after all), another usual opinion "sound is not outstanding, bu good isolation, great for noisy conditions", that's what could pe expected from the owners of EX-51, but not from the owners of the MD-33.

The only one who firmly said that EP-630 and MD-33 sound the same is DigDub, but that's not enough, too much evidence against that fact, and many people who bought EP-630 based on the unproven rumors seem to be dissapointed with their purchase. Thats not good.

P.S. Of course I can be wrong, but thousands (if not dozens of thousands) of people who bought EP-630 who were sure they are MD-33, deserve something better than rumors. Please show me the facts.

 

[gshan]

It's also likely that owners of EP-630 that commented did not have time to burn them in yet. That has been commented to make a difference with MD33 drivers. Good comments though. At the moment EP-630 seems like a better value than the Sharps, but we'll see...