[oli_ramsay]

Bit of a noobish question, but are these actually IEMs like the custom series or earbuds?  Been reading through the thread up to page 12 and still don't know lol.

 

[mnagali]

they're IEMs, a very comfortable one if I recall how my friend's S4 was like

 

[oli_ramsay]

Thanks

 
The reason I'm asking is because I'll be wearing them while biking and earbud style phones just fall out or the seal breaks (my creative ep-630's for example).  Hopefully these will stay in place.

 

[darth_vato]

The S4's were good, but I just can't put up with the amount of sibilance that these things produce. They sound nothing short of amazing with Hip-Hop, Dub-Step, etc., but the hissing and sibilance I get from MCs on rap tracks is a dealbreaker for me, only because my ears seem to be a bit sensitive at the higher frequencies (and I try to only use 320 kbps+).
 
Other than that, fantastic IEM for the money. Not only are they easily the best IEM in terms of comfort, but the sound is up there on the low end.
 
I just ordered a pair of HJE900s, so I'm hoping these are just as good - if not better than the S4s. I got them for the same price, so we'll see. Heard a lot of great things about them.
 
Regardless, glad to see many others enjoying them.

 

[ru9]

Quote:

The S4's were good, but I just can't put up with the amount of sibilance that these things produce. They sound nothing short of amazing with Hip-Hop, Dub-Step, etc., but the hissing and sibilance I get from MCs on rap tracks is a dealbreaker for me, only because my ears seem to be a bit sensitive at the higher frequencies (and I try to only use 320 kbps+).
 
Regardless, glad to see many others enjoying them.

 
I agree with you on the hissing and sibilance on the S4.
I cannot understand why other people cannot hear the hiss and the sibilance.
Are they listening to jazz and acoustic music only?

 

[iDance]

Odd. I don't hear hardly any bass in these... maybe direct connection to a stock Nano 3G has something to do with that.
Quote:

Oh! I forgot one thing. My one complaint would probably be that the bass seems to be a smidge more overwhelming than I'd like.

 

[jasonb]

just picked up a set of these from best buy about a week ago. i'm liking these quite a bit. great bass, love the bass. they have nice mids and highs too. i'm not a true audiophile so i'm not going to begin to describe these with all the fancy audiophile words. i know what i like my music to sound like, and i like how these sound.
 
i have around 75 hours or so on them now. they sounded quite a bit sibilant and harsh at first but that has definitely changed during my usage so far. i listened to them for a couple hours the first night and then ran them for about 3 days straight with little listening sessions scattered in here and there. the bass has definitely tightened up and the highs have calmed down and definitely gotten more detailed instead of sounding like a sibilant mess. i can't say they are more most accurate and most sparkly sounding highs i have ever heard, but the highs are ok with me now after some break in.
 
the S4's are by far the most comfortable in ears i have ever used. i left the stock medium tips on and they work perfectly for me. nice seal and are comfortable as can be.
 
i had a pair of sennheiser cx-300II's that i enjoyed, but they died on me.when they died i ordered some Brainwavz M2's. i was willing to wait for them but i needed something to listen to in the mean time while waiting for them to be in stock again. i bought a pair of Skullcandy titans hoping i could get by with something cheap until the M2's came. after about a week of the skullcandys i could no longer tolerate them so i grabbed the S4's and took the skullcandys back. the skullcandys were loud and had good bass extension, but thats all they had going for them. the plan was to use the S4's until my M2's came in, but i will probably end up keeping the S4's even if i like the M2's better.
 
my music player is an HTC Incredible. its one of verizons flagship android phones if you're not familiar with it. it's plenty loud 98% of the time, only when an album was recorded more quietly do i have it close to maxed out. i also have an e5 on order to help with these quieter albums. stock it sounded ok, but i have my phone rooted so once an EQ program became available i was ready. about a week ago an app called DSP Manager became available for it. it's a root only app that controls the audio across all the applications on the phone for the headphone jack. it contains a simple 5 band EQ and some very nice DSP room effects. the room effects are sweet. i have the 63hz band cut by 3db and the 250hz band cut by 1.5db, and i have a slight room effect on as well. never have i heard audio from headphones sound this great. like i said i don't claim to be an audiophile so i know some of you on here would probably laugh at dsp effects since you are looking for the most true representation of the source. i'm also sure some of the top end audio players may sound better, but i love how this device sounds so i'm going to continue to use it.

 

[proteinpig]

I love my S4s too. The bass is not very tight but it's gorgeous nevertheless. I have used mine for > 300 hours and they sound completely different from what they sounded out of the box. The mids and highs have improved and the bass has tightened a bit. I love the sound signature of these IEMs now. Can someone suggest me a set of headphones (preferably open and under $200 retail price) that have similar sound signature as these? I bought M50 about a week back but they sound completely different from these ( I love them too

).

 

[jasonb]

i have the Brainwavz M2's on their way to me. i'll let ya know how they compare. they supposedly are on the bass heavy side, just like the S4's, but people claim it's a different kind of bass.
 
Quote:

I love my S4s too. The bass is not very tight but it's gorgeous nevertheless. I have used mine for > 300 hours and they sound completely different from what they sounded out of the box. The mids and highs have improved and the bass has tightened a bit. I love the sound signature of these IEMs now. Can someone suggest me a set of headphones (preferably open and under $200 retail price) that have similar sound signature as these? I bought M50 about a week back but they sound completely different from these ( I love them too

" class="bbcode_smiley" height="" src="http://files.head-fi.org/images/smilies//smily_headphones1.gif" title="

" width="" /> ).

 

[idvsego]

Quote:

Odd. I don't hear hardly any bass in these... maybe direct connection to a stock Nano 3G has something to do with that.

 
be sure you are getting a good seal.  these need to be up in the ear, not just plugged into the opening.  There was a night and day difference when I put them in a little a farther.

 

[AcTNBumpChannel]

How durable are these things? I have already shorted a pair of skullcandies and some other unnamed ones I had. Since these are $80 and my budget is small, I am going to store these things better than I did my last two....

 

[MaxwellDemon]

Well, any IEMs will break rather quickly if you do reckless things like wind them around your MP3 player whilst still connected, sitting on them in your backpocket, etc.
 
However, Skullcandies aren't exactly the most durable earphones. Just remember to disconnect and store them appropriately in a small pouch where there won't be much pressure pressing onto them for the majority of the time.

 
Oh, and be careful when changing your tips the first time. Just gently twist them around till they come off. I've read some people have snapped their IEM tips off because they tugged at it too harshly.

 

[leesure]

It's interesting hearing people express surprise about the bloated bass and midbass bloom. Look at the frequency response graph on the HeadRoom page. It's about +10dB from 20-800! 10dB! That's double the volume in that whole range.

I bought a pair of these on recommendation from a friend and noted the bass issues right away. I have use the bass reducer EQ setting on my iPhone to make it listenable. I'm going to burn them in for the 100 hours that some posters have recommended and see what happens, but I'm skeptical.

 

[Walie]

modified biflanges
 
cmon people

 

[lebomb]

Another happy S4 owner here.....................