is this the best decision for me?? - se110 !

[ranz_blacker]

hello all, ive been a avid reader on this forum, bugging ppl with my FS requests. I think i'm ready to throw my ipod earphones and start to listen some good music.
I've seen people talk about 200-400$ headphone like pocket change, but I'm a student and 80$ is a big amount for me to spend on headphones. Hence my priority are durability. I want to achieve the best SQ performance/price ratio and some noise isolation since i travel a lot on metro. i need that they should be easy to carry and not weird looking wen on travel. i listen to music about 3-4 hours everyday and mixed choice of music.. ipod use and no amp..
i started with comparing headphones against earphones/canalphones. From my usage, i know i can't go for open headphones since i need some noise isolation. i'll try to explain why i made the choice, and i will be really thankful to you people if you can tell me if it's really the best one for me.

headphones -
rp-21 - not very portable and good looking. i am willing to carry these, but they look not pretty to wear in public use.. i knw i should care abt the looks part, but i do a little..
denon hd1000- no noise isolation, so out of equation no matter how good SQ
es7 - same no noise isolation
hd25 - id want to buy these, but can't find them for 100$ anymore.

ath-nc7 - gr8 noise isolation, but my metro use is like 30% only.. and these dont sound well with NC off.. i think the electronics circuitry might get faulty soon, thes things seem to happen oftenly with me..

earphones/canalphones
denon c700 and atrio m5 - out of my price range
CrossRoads MylarOne X3 - reviews give bad durability. i am a first time buyer of expensive headphones, i want durability and a good company with solid reputation and warranty coverage. somehow i dont feel comfortable buying them.
UE super.fi 3 - i find these are the only earphones from these company within my price range. i dont know why these dont click to me.. it seems im biased to shure's name and looks. i knw thts stupid, id really appreciate if someone could convince them over SE110 to me..
altec lansing im716 - heard they are hard to drive from ipod, plus filters issue.. also the hanging volume control.. and 1 yr warranty..
ety er-6i - these were like my no.1 choice till recently, but i ve just seen SE110 price dropped to same as these.. but with flimsy wires and a little lack of bass, i also think id be uncomfortable putting them in and out of ears multiple times everyday..
d-jays - are these as good in SQ and durability to warrant the extra 20$ in price over other earphones.

in short SE110 might be a little worse than ety er6i and ue.fi 3 on SQ.. but shure's are easy to fit, better looking, and 2 yrs warranty.
i think "the better looking and easy to wear durable" part for SE110 overpowers the slight better SQ of ety er-6i and ue .fi3.. ( i want to confirm the SQ diff. is very little)

what do you ppl think, i found the SE110, er6i and UE.fi3 are about the same price.(80$) .. could not find d-jays for these price anywhere.. only 100$ i saw them at audiocubes..

i've tried to do my bit of research, now let the experience speak up... thank you

 

[ranz_blacker]

bump - guys plzz give some inputs.. im pretty certain to give my orders soon.. the price has just dropped on these babies 100 to 80 and now to 75$ in 1 day... the usual electronics expo game.. i fear they will rise again..

 

[jinx20001]

ive yet to hear the 110's but im sure they will give the er6's and ue 3's a good run for the money and they do look like a smaller version of the more expensive se420's (cant be a bad thing).

ive owned a few shures and have always been impressed with the quality of build and sound all around really. im a proud owner of the se530 and they certainly are to my tastes big time.

one thing you may need to post is your sound preference (e.g warm aka deep and bassy or bright aka crisp highs and lighter bass) that way you should get a more accurate response.

as i have mentioned i have not listened to the 110's so its important you mention what sound you are hunting for so people with the 110 experience can tell you if they are for you

 

[ranz_blacker]

thts the most confusing part for me, i listen to pink floyd, metallica, iron maiden, james blunt, acoustic stuff and lately even madonna .. as far as i know, thts a pretty varied genre.. so im jst gonna go with general public opinion ..

 

[LaBreaHead]

Sounds like you're going about this the right way (as a student, you no doubt are used to researching stuff ... which is what everyone should do, of course).

Just to set the record straight -- I don't think I've read a single report of a cord failure on the ER6i's on Head-Fi ... whereas in the past, some Shure cords have cracked, and people have had to rely on Shure's excellent (through much practice?) customer service. I don't remember whether I've read about Shure's cords being revised in the new (and admittedly attractive looking) model line ... I hope they have been; that would be interesting for a lot of people to know.

I had gotten the ER6's, thought the cords were flimsy and sound a bit bright using the bi-flanges (which isolated excellently), and decided to try the Shure E3C's. The thicker Shure cords initially seemed like they might be more durable, but I found them less convenient and less low-profile ... and while they did fine on players that EQ well (for example, Rios), I do not like their "hollow" sound at all with a 2nd Generation iPod Nano or a 4th generation iPod (iPods tend to not EQ well, so I leave that a flat setting). Out of disappointment, I haven't used them in a year and a half, so the cords are fine (LOL).

I went full circle and got the ER6i's, and with foamies (the new Shure black foamies are probably the best/most durable available, and would be worth it for a daily user), the brightness of the ER6i's has been tempered, and the comfort factor has been increased ... plus they're easier than ever to put in and take out. I wear glasses much of the time I'm listening to earphones, and having the light cords run straight out of my ears (instead of up and over the ear) just seems simpler and less constricting for me. And no, the cords are not flimsy ... just very thin and light, and low-profile. Also, these things isolate about as well as one could hope for.

The Shures might well work for you best, but I wanted to offer some comments on the ER6i's. Enjoy your upgrade, whatever you get.


__________________________
Phones (in order of purchase):
Sony MDR71, Sony MDR51, Etymotic ER6, Panasonic RP-HJ50, Shure E3C, Koss PortaPro 2, Creative EP630, Etymotic ER6i, Sennheiser PX-100, Sennheiser HD555, Future Sonics Atrio M5

 

[Aevum]

the SE110 hasnt been on the market long enough for a significant ammount of people to test them and compare them to the competition, which would be the ER6i and the Super.fi 3 studio and the d-JAYS,

 

[pez]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ranz_blacker /img/forum/go_quote.gif thts the most confusing part for me, i listen to pink floyd, metallica, iron maiden, james blunt, acoustic stuff and lately even madonna .. as far as i know, thts a pretty varied genre.. so im jst gonna go with general public opinion ..

Ultimate Ears Super.fi 3's. You said accoustic, and I only would use the Super.fi 3's for accoustic. In my opinion, the Super.fi 3 reproduces accoustic guitars a tad better than the Etymotics. Also, the Super.fi's have more bass than the Etymotics (more info in the review linked in my sig). I've had someone tell me that the SE110's were muddy and bass wasn't good quality like the Super.fi 3's. One suggestion is that you are a basshead, just steer clear of all these headphones and just save up for either a pair of Super.fi 5 Pro's or EB's.

 

[ranz_blacker]

i cant stretch my budget farther than tht.. and it sux

..
wht kind of music suits super.fi 3 and ety er-6i cuz i also thought i was more metal/rock kinda guy.... if sf3 reproduce only acoustic music a tad better, while ety's are better in other departments i dont think it justifies me going for sf3's.. infact i rem reading in some threads ppl were equating sf3 and e2c and had mixed opinions.. while se110 are btter than e2c for as much as all the reviews i have read.. so doesnt that make them better than sf3..

 

[ranz_blacker]

i guess i'll postpone my decision for a couple of days.. tht electronics expo charge and 9$ for shipping :x.. and thr's still split opinion whether the SE110 are worth 84$ or er6i (75$) or super fi3 (70$)!!
inputs needed

 

[pez]

I'm used to hearing people recommend the SF3's over the E2C's. I would say that the Ety's would be best for Metal though...I can't stress that enough. I just love the clarity and bass quality the ety's produce on metal...they will always probably leave me with a soft spot when I listen to Chiodos on them (I know chiodos isn't metal).

 

[ranz_blacker]

a full circle, going by the positive opinion er-6i keep garnering everywhr, im thinking of getting the er-6i again.. but i guess ill have to spend some extra cash for shure black olives...

 

[pez]

Mmmm if you get a pair of large or medium olives, mail me a pair

 

[bcuzy]

ranz - blacker:
Can you tell me where you found the prices that you mention on the SE110, the ER-6i and the fi3?
Thanks.

 

[SactoMan101]

ranz_blacker,

Do you have an eBay account? If you do, since you can spend around US$100 go get the Shure SE210 for around US$105-US$110 from a good eBay reseller--it's supposed to a very good headphone.

 

[physh]

The sound difference between the super.fi 3's se110's and e2c's and is not a night and day difference, this changes if you jump up another 50-100 or so dollars in the price bracket. Each brand/model has it's own sound signature however.

Here's how I rate the SQ without regards to price. Super.fi 3>se210~se110>e2c. (note that the se210's are 150$ if price were put into consideration, I would rate the 110's above the 210's) But remember this is my personal opinion.

If comfort is a big deal, go with the se110's.
If you are looking for value, go with the Super.fi 3's. At 59 dollars, I think it beats any of the shure lineup under the e4c.
A lot of people like the er6i's better then the super.fi's so that perhaps put's them on the top of the sub $100 list.

Even if the Super.fi 3's were priced at 120 vs 80 of the se110's, I would still buy the Super.fi's, but Then again I don't like the way Shure's sound, IMO the brand image comes from marketing appeal.

I find the super.fi 3's comfortable, but many don't. The Shure's probably suit more people. If you get the se110's for the comfort reason, don't look back. If you havn't listened to anything else, the se110's will sound like the best IEMs in the world.

You mention durability a lot: if you are treating your IEMS in a way that can damage any of them on the list, I don't see how any of them would fair very well.

You mention acoustic music. When listening to the se110's and super.fi 3's side by side, I found that with the se110's, all of the instruments sounded like they were inside of your head (and kind of hard to distinguish). The super.fi's take the sounds out of your head, and spreads the instruments out around the room.