[zentenk]

Okay so it has been a bad week. I lost my adored UM3X on a taxi ride... and my backup RE0's left stopped outputting sound and after emailing Head-Direct the day before I still haven't received a reply.
 
I'm not very sad about the RE0 because I didn't really like it, but I love the UM3X. I liked how the UM3X was very forward in the mids and the clarity was awesome. It also had a very good synergy with the X1050 (at least I think so). I tried the IE8 and W3 and I didn't like the former and the latter just didn't fit as good as the UM3X. That said, I wanted to try something new, perhaps a step up from the UM3X. So after some research I find that the CK100 has some of the characteristics I love about the UM3X, that is - the forward mids and epic clarity.
 
However, I see from some threads that the CK100 is very source dependent, and seeing that I will mostly be using it with my MBP and Sony X1050 dishing out .m4a and .mp3@320kps respectively (or Galaxy Nexus when it comes out) with no amp and external DAC, will that be a problem?
 
On a side note, has anyone here tried the CK100pro? I may wait a little and dish out a little more for the pro.

 

[pyro_dragun]

From what I hear, the CK100 mids are forward, but cold. I haven't actually listened to them yet, but I did just purchase a pair which should be coming soon. I'll try and give you my take on them once they arrive.

 

[takoyaki7]

I used to own UM3x and loved them, and have auditioned CK100 but could never get on with them well. I really wanted to like them, and there is something very interesting about their forward mids, but every time I listened to them (especially with rock and metal) they had a shocking brightness and tininess that I found very off-putting. They are just overall odd-sounding to my ears...Extremely cold sounding like the poster said above, and too heavily weighted in the mids and top-end. Not at all like the UM3x, which actually has very strong bass and more intimate, warm-mids.
 
On the other hand, the new CK100Pro sounds fantastic from my two brief auditions, and may be along the lines of what your are looking for. They are pretty expensive though!

 

[Tronz]

Quote:

Okay so it has been a bad week. I lost my adored UM3X on a taxi ride... and my backup RE0's left stopped outputting sound and after emailing Head-Direct the day before I still haven't received a reply.
 
I'm not very sad about the RE0 because I didn't really like it, but I love the UM3X. I liked how the UM3X was very forward in the mids and the clarity was awesome. It also had a very good synergy with the X1050 (at least I think so). I tried the IE8 and W3 and I didn't like the former and the latter just didn't fit as good as the UM3X. That said, I wanted to try something new, perhaps a step up from the UM3X. So after some research I find that the CK100 has some of the characteristics I love about the UM3X, that is - the forward mids and epic clarity.
 
However, I see from some threads that the CK100 is very source dependent, and seeing that I will mostly be using it with my MBP and Sony X1050 dishing out .m4a and .mp3@320kps respectively (or Galaxy Nexus when it comes out) with no amp and external DAC, will that be a problem?
 
On a side note, has anyone here tried the CK100pro? I may wait a little and dish out a little more for the pro.

I'd take it safe and buy another pair of UM3X's.
 
 

 

[Haonan]

http://www.head-fi.org/t/585007/review-ck100pro-unboxing-impressions-a-retrospective-journey-with-audio-technica-and-versus-ck100

Try reading my review OP, may help you decide better. And to answer your original topic, yes I do feel that the CK100 is more source dependent than the CK100PRO. It seems much harder to get a good 'synergy' out of the CK100 than CK100PRO to my ears, since I own both the iPod Touch 4th Gen and a Sony HDD Walkman. (NW-HD5 series) According to the chinese BBS forums I had researched, if you are intending to pair these with a proper portable amp, either the iQube V2 (and maybe V3 as well) or the Rudistor XJ-03 should have the most synergy with the CK100s. But because Rudistor has already discontinued the XJ-03 sometime back and the iQubes are kinda out of my budget (and for their size they are considered transportable amps and not exactly that portable), I haven't been able to acquire them to test it out all these while despite reading the very positive reviews of them around the net, of their results with the CK100 IEMs.

I do hope to acquire a Kenwood MediaKeg HD30/HD60 next time though, according to the japanese and chinese BBS discussions I had researched previously their HP out sounds the best with CK100 as well w/o the need for an amp to power it. (although I do own a Audinst AMP-HP myself, usually I don't like to bring portable amps out with me since I prefer to stick to a single device)

My 2 cents.