[Cruelhand Luke]

As hilarious as this is - as someone with short roots and many teeth problems PLEASE baby your teeth like how you baby your ears. If you mess up your teeth once, they'll never be the same again! Just like your ears. They've gotta last a lifetime. I no longer have the privilege of eating a whole apple or anything hard like corn nuts.

So since I never have corn nuts, I can probably bite IEMs a few times a year and be fine....
actually I agree with you, I don't think I would bite anything harder than food with my teeth at this point in my life. I mean, at some point teeth just start breaking if you aren't careful!... then you are left having to be satisfied with smelling the breath of people who just ate some corn nuts...

 

[youngarthur]

Even though Slater is in Ohio, and I am in Scotland, I am locking the front door. He is not attacking my earphones!.

 

[Willber]

If you don't have vice grip pliers available, it's even easier and faster to bite down on the seam with your front teeth. Basically exactly the same instructions as that post, only your teeth become the vice grips. I've opened a number of ATE, ATE-S, and ATR housings using the "vice teeth" method. It literally takes 2 seconds. I can't even go to the garage and dig out my vice grip pliers that fast haha

If you do that with your ZS6 don't forget to undo the screws first...

 

[Vytautas]

I have no any decent earphones yet and based on the statement: "The best earphone is many earphones. Experts recommend rather three $100 headphones than one $300 headphone." I am looking for three or maybe 4 <15 eur chi-fi headphones. My taste is: live concerts, jazz, classical music. Audiophile listening. Some rock, electronic. Rare - dance music. I am listening the music mainly from Dragonfly v1.0c DAC.

I have been searching and reading for a few days and have made a list (based on what is written on audiobudget.com and there) with 7 most interesting options and can not narrow it down anymore on my own:
1. Details, V-shaped - ZS5 v2 with high frequency cut and bass improvement mods 15 eur
2. Best stage - Swing ie800 10.5 eur
3. Neutral - Einsear T2 9 eur or Intone 6e 5.5 eur. Could Intone be a better choose than T2? This review seems to be positive: http://www.thephonograph.net/sound-intone-e6-review/
4. V-shaped - Boarsemen KR25D 9 eur. Some good sound similarities with Urbanfun Hi-fi 15 eur.
5. Earbuds. MXM500 8 eur

Which 4 phones you would like to drop / replace in the list first?

Is it nice to have Swing and ZS5 at the same time? Should I just buy Urbanfun Hi-fi in place of some other phones? What sound characteristics MXM500 earbuds have in comparison to other phones? To which they are the most similar?

 

[Slater]

As hilarious as this is - as someone with short roots and many teeth problems PLEASE baby your teeth like how you baby your ears. If you mess up your teeth once, they'll never be the same again! Just like your ears. They've gotta last a lifetime. I no longer have the privilege of eating a whole apple or anything hard like corn nuts.

Very good advice. I am fortunate enough to have fairly decent teeth.

OK HFers, so Slater D.D.S. recommends not biting anything that's "not food". I HAVE chipped my teeth doing stupid stuff in the past (but have also done so eating FOOD as well).

The ATE is very soft plastic, however, and all you're doing is "popping" the very weak glue seal. The amount of force you bite down with is about equal to biting an already-shelled almond kernel in half. So if your teeth are strong enough to eat shelled almonds, they are strong enough to pop the glue seal on the ATE. If not (such as teeth that are extremely weak, already cracked/broken, have veneers or temporary crowns, etc), use the vice grip method.

 

[xrk971]

I guess I am pretty out of it. What’s an ATE? And you bite it? Maybe once bitten it’s EATEN lol.

I just saw the ZS3s and they look real cool and can’t pass them up for the price. Might be great low mass commuter phones that I won’t worry about losing.

 

[Slater]

I guess I am pretty out of it. What’s an ATE? And you bite it? Maybe once bitten it’s EATEN lol.

I just saw the ZS3s and they look real cool and can’t pass them up for the price. Might be great low mass commuter phones that I won’t worry about losing.

Like this: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/knowledge-zenith-kz-impressions-thread.698148/page-273#post-11641215

ATE are really nice with a few mods (sealing the bass vent on the nozzle, modding the back cover with holes/grille to make them open, removing the nozzle mesh screen, and installing wide bore tips).

 

[xrk971]

Thanks Slater.

They will close/open nicely without any glue needed and I also don`t recommend filling empty space with silicone etc. - soundstage will be lost.
Last night listening to ATE in my bed I decided to pull off backplates while listening and I succeeded. Definitely without backplates or with fully open design ATE sounds better. And LOL, I fell asleep like that enjoying music
I`m so itching to mod them already with wooden backplates (open with metal grills) but can`t do it till I receive my mmcx connectors and replacement cables.

Once back is popped of, a precision micro drill press like Dremel could be used to perforate the back panel with say a two dozen or more 0.7mm holes and it would be like an open back.

 

[skajohyros]

I have no any decent earphones yet and based on the statement: "The best earphone is many earphones. Experts recommend rather three $100 headphones than one $300 headphone." I am looking for three or maybe 4 <15 eur chi-fi headphones. My taste is: live concerts, jazz, classical music. Audiophile listening. Some rock, electronic. Rare - dance music. I am listening the music mainly from Dragonfly v1.0c DAC.

I have been searching and reading for a few days and have made a list (based on what is written on audiobudget.com and there) with 7 most interesting options and can not narrow it down anymore on my own:
1. Details, V-shaped - ZS5 v2 with high frequency cut and bass improvement mods 15 eur
2. Best stage - Swing ie800 10.5 eur
3. Neutral - Einsear T2 9 eur or Intone 6e 5.5 eur. Could Intone be a better choose than T2? This review seems to be positive: http://www.thephonograph.net/sound-intone-e6-review/
4. V-shaped - Boarsemen KR25D 9 eur. Some good sound similarities with Urbanfun Hi-fi 15 eur.
5. Earbuds. MXM500 8 eur

Which 4 phones you would like to drop / replace in the list first?

Is it nice to have Swing and ZS5 at the same time? Should I just buy Urbanfun Hi-fi in place of some other phones? What sound characteristics MXM500 earbuds have in comparison to other phones? To which they are the most similar?

Also check out this site.
http://www.aproear.co.uk/my-top-5-and-recommendations/

 

[HUGO SILVA]

Also check out this site.
http://www.aproear.co.uk/my-top-5-and-recommendations/

personal, someone knows the in ear LKER i8? Is it a good product? Worth it?

 

[stryed]

I have no any decent earphones yet and based on the statement: "The best earphone is many earphones. Experts recommend rather three $100 headphones than one $300 headphone." I am looking for three or maybe 4 <15 eur chi-fi headphones. My taste is: live concerts, jazz, classical music. Audiophile listening. Some rock, electronic. Rare - dance music. I am listening the music mainly from Dragonfly v1.0c DAC.

I have been searching and reading for a few days and have made a list (based on what is written on audiobudget.com and there) with 7 most interesting options and can not narrow it down anymore on my own:
1. Details, V-shaped - ZS5 v2 with high frequency cut and bass improvement mods 15 eur
2. Best stage - Swing ie800 10.5 eur
3. Neutral - Einsear T2 9 eur or Intone 6e 5.5 eur. Could Intone be a better choose than T2? This review seems to be positive: http://www.thephonograph.net/sound-intone-e6-review/
4. V-shaped - Boarsemen KR25D 9 eur. Some good sound similarities with Urbanfun Hi-fi 15 eur.
5. Earbuds. MXM500 8 eur

Which 4 phones you would like to drop / replace in the list first?

Is it nice to have Swing and ZS5 at the same time? Should I just buy Urbanfun Hi-fi in place of some other phones? What sound characteristics MXM500 earbuds have in comparison to other phones? To which they are the most similar?

I like the Swing for its comfort and easy listening, and zs5 for soundstage. I'd suggest looking for real pair of Vivo XE800 (could be difficult) as they're cheap and will give you another sound entirely which focuses on the mids/treble detail. There's also the urban hifi (which version?) which could be interesting.

 

[wastan]

I have no any decent earphones yet and based on the statement: "The best earphone is many earphones. Experts recommend rather three $100 headphones than one $300 headphone." I am looking for three or maybe 4 <15 eur chi-fi headphones. My taste is: live concerts, jazz, classical music. Audiophile listening. Some rock, electronic. Rare - dance music. I am listening the music mainly from Dragonfly v1.0c DAC.

I have been searching and reading for a few days and have made a list (based on what is written on audiobudget.com and there) with 7 most interesting options and can not narrow it down anymore on my own:
1. Details, V-shaped - ZS5 v2 with high frequency cut and bass improvement mods 15 eur
2. Best stage - Swing ie800 10.5 eur
3. Neutral - Einsear T2 9 eur or Intone 6e 5.5 eur. Could Intone be a better choose than T2? This review seems to be positive: http://www.thephonograph.net/sound-intone-e6-review/
4. V-shaped - Boarsemen KR25D 9 eur. Some good sound similarities with Urbanfun Hi-fi 15 eur.
5. Earbuds. MXM500 8 eur

Which 4 phones you would like to drop / replace in the list first?

Is it nice to have Swing and ZS5 at the same time? Should I just buy Urbanfun Hi-fi in place of some other phones? What sound characteristics MXM500 earbuds have in comparison to other phones? To which they are the most similar?

With those preferences I'd put the UrbanFun hybrid near the top of the list.
Also consider the EMI CI880

 

[bsoplinger]

With those preferences I'd put the UrbanFun hybrid near the top of the list.
Also consider the EMI CI880

Do you have a link for the hybrid? I've seen this one mentioned a few times and went looking for for it but the listings all seemed to have the single beryllium driver mixed in with the hybrid and when I go to choose the hybrid it isn't available. Similarly I've had troubles finding the Ci880. Looks like the lifespan of these inexpensive Chi-Fi IEMs is about 2 months.

When I first looked at this thread just a couple of months ago it was ZS5 now its ZS6 and people are salivating about the new/improved xxx that was supposed to be released 'any day now.'

 

[SomeGuyDude]

Do you have a link for the hybrid? I've seen this one mentioned a few times and went looking for for it but the listings all seemed to have the single beryllium driver mixed in with the hybrid and when I go to choose the hybrid it isn't available. Similarly I've had troubles finding the Ci880. Looks like the lifespan of these inexpensive Chi-Fi IEMs is about 2 months.

When I first looked at this thread just a couple of months ago it was ZS5 now its ZS6 and people are salivating about the new/improved xxx that was supposed to be released 'any day now.'

That's the "fun" of the thread. There's a new hot thing every few months or less. I remember when the TFZ Series was considered el numero uno flagship killer.

I think it's just because every once in a while a damn good one pops up, everyone goes bananas over it, but then the hype cools down and people start to realize that a sub-$50 product really is just a sub-$50 product, then there's something new and "omg this one is the one that's so good it'll unseat the Andromeda!!!"

 

[Cruelhand Luke]

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