[Canman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jmmmmm I don't really believe canalphones change much with burn in. The sound may change to you, but I believe it's 90% psychological. There isn't anything wrong with that, it's just your brain getting used to them.

Whether what I'm hearing is burn in or psychological normalization, I have experienced a change in sound for the better in the first three hours of operation on the UE5 Pro.

I am getting the best comfort with the foamies but the rubber tips provide more isolation. The metal and leather cases that come with these phones are really nice. I am using these out of the iPod headphone out.

I do find the treble on the UE 5 to be rolled off; however the iPod EQ treble boost does a nice job to correct this. I just discovered that the rolled off Koss KSC-35 also benefits from this setting.

Overall, tonality and midrange is nice, detail is OK, and soundstage is better than expected (its actually pretty good). Complex midbass notes seem to get a bit jumbled and dynamics are average. Both of these seem to have improved over the last 3 hours tremendously. I am enjoying these phones-very different than what I'm used to. I will write something more detailed after more listening.

 

[joelongwood]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PFRfan My quick impressions: The Super Fi's have WAY more high end sparkle than the E3C, and the bass is probably reaching deeper with more control and just a little more impact. The mids are better, too, and the soundstage is absolutely wider - good instrument seperation.

I definitely agree with the impressions relating to bass, mids, and soundstage,, but not with the "Way more high end sparkle." To my ears, the E3 has a bit more high end sparkle, but not by much. And those diverse impressions are what make auditioning a must if one is looking for the perfect 'phone for their own personal enjoyment.
Just more evidence that everyone hears things differently.

 

[jagger333]

from my impression superfis have WAY too much mids...to the point its kind of bloated and not enough highs of the right proportion...i got listenin fatigue from it after a while from turnin up the volume to hear the highs but gettin a lot of mids...

i also tried to make E4C and superfis sound the same...

from superfi to E4C all you need to do is turn up the treble by a lot....you'll get a sound close to E4C with bass
from E4C to superfi all you need to do is turn up the bass by a lot..you'll get a sound better than superfi with better highs and controlled bass...but no ooomph feelin to it

but because its dual driver...it does have an ooomph feel to it...i turned up the bass wit E4C and can't get the same effect...i guess that's where single driver and dual drivers differ...

 

[PFRfan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by joelongwood I definitely agree with the impressions relating to bass, mids, and soundstage,, but not with the "Way more high end sparkle." To my ears, the E3 has a bit more high end sparkle, but not by much. And those diverse impressions are what make auditioning a must if one is looking for the perfect 'phone for their own personal enjoyment. Just more evidence that everyone hears things differently.

Interesting. I wonder if the difference can be attributed to source. My E3C are congested in the midrange and dull sounding in the the high end when coming out of my Karma or Indigo IO. When I run them from my Mackie Spike, or Denon receiver, both of those problems are diminished significantly. I know nothing about the characteristics of a 1G iPod.

I've only listened to the 5 Pros straight from my Karma so far. I'll compare them out of my receiver & Indigo when I've had a chance to listen more. But to me, I'd be shocked if anybody listening to my E3C & my 5 Pro from my Karma would say that the Shures phones had more treble.

Thanks!

 

[joelongwood]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PFRfan Interesting. I wonder if the difference can be attributed to source. My E3C are congested in the midrange and dull sounding in the the high end when coming out of my Karma or Indigo IO. When I run them from my Mackie Spike, or Denon receiver, both of those problems are diminished significantly. I know nothing about the characteristics of a 1G iPod. I've only listened to the 5 Pros straight from my Karma so far. I'll compare them out of my receiver & Indigo when I've had a chance to listen more. But to me, I'd be shocked if anybody listening to my E3C & my 5 Pro from my Karma would say that the Shures phones had more treble. Thanks!

Different sources can most definitely yield different results and alter the sound considerably, so our differing impressions of the treble response of these two 'phones is more understandable. Couple that with our different ear physiology, and you've got the reason for Head-Fi!

 

[jyk]

Listening super-fi pro5 about 5 hours. (bought at the G.C.).
I am ER4P user. Therefore, my impression is just comparison with ER4P.

My general EQ setting for ER4P(mainly for Jazz) is “Bass boost” (ipod mini, no amp).
Enjoying very nice attack(transient), mid-high and clear ambience.
There is a bass but ,,,, (you know it).
So far I love ER4P.
New comer, Super-fi 5P, first of all, very rich bass and mid but lesser high ( compare to ER) obviously.
I set the EQ to Treble boost. It becoming better balance for me.
I wanted to have ER4+reasonable? Bass (may be UE10?) .
Super-fi has very smooth, rich and excellent soundstage.
But if there is more sound sharpness? , would become the very best.
It is hard to say which is better. Because both products has different taste I will listen both cans for the while.

 

[jimkuhr]

Well Head-Fi claims another wallet, I've had Ety 4P's since 1994 or so and finally decided it was time for a change. After reading the thread on the Shure 4's I decided that the UE 5's might be better for me so found a pair at the GC in San Bernardino. My first thought was boy was this a mistake, they weren't comfortable, even with the smallest silicon ear piece it was too big for my ear. Then last night I spent 4 to 5 hours playing with them, the fit, the sound, going back and forth between the UE's and my Ety's.

Bottom line is I'll be saying goodbye to my Ety's after all this time. After playing with the fit (and reading the feedback about pushing the earpiece too far into my ear canal) I've finally gotten to the point that I can get a good seal and still have it be comfortable but it's the fullness of the sound that I'm loving. Yes the Ety does have more presence at the high frequencies but I'm amazed at how thin the 4P's sounded after spending time with the UE 5 Pro's. Most of the evening I listened to the UE's with just the iPod but I did spend some time using my SR-71 and what a joy that is with these headphones. Such a smooth presentation and very musical and easy to listen to. So here's my thoughts on the pro's anc con's of the UE's:

Pros:
- Very nice soundstage, lot's of presence and dynamics
- Nicely balanced musical tonal range (this is of course for my personal preference)
- More comfortable then my Ety's once you figure out you don't have to have them inserted all the way into the ear canal

Cons:
- I'm not crazy about how they sit in the ear, they are much larger and more noticable then the ETY's and I really do not like the wrap around wire
- I'm concerned a bit about how thin the wire is, as I said I've had my Ety's for a long time with nary a problem through lots and lots of plane trips. I'm not sure my UE's will have the same life span.
- Certainly slightly less detail and high frequency range then the Ety's but this is really pretty small overall.

The setup I use is:
- 3G iPod
- SR-71
- I listened to a broad range of music last night ranging from jazz to country to older rock and roll (Doors, Credence, Dooby Brothers, etc.)

Hope that is helpful, happy to answer any questions you might have.

 

[zatara]

jimkuhr thank you for the great comparison. Can you compare the 5 pro's to any full sized cans you have heard?

 

[donaldekelly]

Yeah - the UE is not as much detail but better overall. It was goodbye Etys for me as well (but I already had the UM2s so no SuperFi purchased).

 

[Mano]

this is kind of a longshot question because i dont know with what kind of effectiveness it can be done, but has anyone ever tried changing drivers in a canalphone? (not specially a super.fi, but any in general), i was thinking about how would sound come out if you changed one of the drivers in the super.fi 5 pros (the one that controls the highs) with an ety er4p/s driver

 

[PTheD]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mano this is kind of a longshot question because i dont know with what kind of effectiveness it can be done, but has anyone ever tried changing drivers in a canalphone? (not specially a super.fi, but any in general), i was thinking about how would sound come out if you changed one of the drivers in the super.fi 5 pros (the one that controls the highs) with an ety er4p/s driver

Wow, now that is a crazy arse DIY idea! Sounds cool!

Unfortunetly to do it right would proably cost a significant amount, in time, money & knowledge, and to do it cleanly would proabaly cost a lot more of the first two.

 

[jimkuhr]

Zatra, I'm on the road right now but I'll be home this weekend and will do some comparisons between the UE5's and my Senn 580's and my Byer DT531's if that is of interest. I'm guessing that I'll feel the UE 5's are a bit more lively and forward than my Senn's and probably just a bit more muted (in terms of favoring mid and bass) than my 531's. It will be fun to do the comparisons, thanks for asking.

Jim

 

[jesse_w]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mano this is kind of a longshot question because i dont know with what kind of effectiveness it can be done, but has anyone ever tried changing drivers in a canalphone? (not specially a super.fi, but any in general), i was thinking about how would sound come out if you changed one of the drivers in the super.fi 5 pros (the one that controls the highs) with an ety er4p/s driver

If you search you can probably find the thread where a user switched his ER4P drivers into ER6 enclosures.

jesse

 

[omendelovitz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by some1x What was the price? Anyone mind buying one and shipping to Canada?

I live in Canada too and I found a US based retailer that will ship these bad boys up here via DHL and @ a price MUCH lower than UE will do . It works out so that the price @ this place + shipping is about $5 less than UE w/o the shipping price. The name of the place is compumusic or something like that. Look up the earphones via Froogle search and they'll show up. They're not in stock yet, probably won't be until nearer to the 15th.

Cheers!

O

 

[some1x]

Thanks a lot, omendelovitz!

If my E4c don't arrive soon, I'm gonna order the Super.Fi.
No aircon in summertime makes HD650 impossible to wear for more than 20 minutes