Looking for new pair of in ear headphones, need help choosing.

[arenix]

Hey everyone, my 2 year old sennheiser 300ii just broke and I can't decide on what to buy next. I'm a huge basshead so please only post the best bass in ear headphones that fall into this category. I've been looking into getting xb90 or wooduo 2 for now until I get other suggestions. I don't mind buying an amp if that will help too. Help me find the best earphones please. Must be able to buy them in UK or order them into UK. Looking for a bass monster. I listen to Edm and EDM ONLY what about shure se215 with zo2? I can't find those sonys anywhere, budget is around £180 if that helps.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

https://www.amazon.com/Aurisonics-Kicker-In-ear-Headphones-Gunmetal/dp/B0155X1BB8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1470623064&sr=8-1&keywords=Aurisonics+Kicker
 
https://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-IE80-Headphone/dp/B005N8W27I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1470623090&sr=8-1&keywords=Sennheiser+IE80

 

[arenix]

Thanks for the reply, do you own both of them?

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Quote:

Thanks for the reply, do you own both of them?

 

I have the Aurisonics ASG-1.3, similar enough sound to the Kicker. On listening the sound is skewed in favor of bass but if one looks at the graph everything below 1000hz is a lot louder than everything above it, but save for the spike at around 8000hz the response curves are otherwise smooth. I just applied a low shelf (-2dB) and high shelf (+2dB) EQ to get the level on either side closer to equal. If you like bass, then you don't need to fiddle with the EQ, unless you want more to bash your eardrums with.

 

I also tried the IE8 before. Not the IE80 but they're supposed to be similar enough. Sound is somewhat similar to the ASG-1.3 but ultimately if you looked at the graphs it's a heck of a lot closer to the HD650. If you're after bass the ASG-1.3 and the Kicker would have more bass; if you're after SQ without tweaking the IE8(0) would be better. If you can tweak, the ASG-1.3 is easier to get to neutral with a wide-sweeping EQ correction.

 

Ultimately though I went for the ASG-1.3 because it's more comfortable in my ear. At the time I was actually looking at the IE7 more but that thing was just weird; the IE8(0) is considerably better but the custom IEM-like shape of the ASG's are easier to deal with. I do use Sony Hybrid eartips as the Aurisonics tips are just a bit off in size - medium's a bit small and the large are too big. Unless you can save on shipping from Amazon though I suggest you try the stock tips first.

 

[arenix]

Wonderful, any other good contenders out there?

 

[ProtegeManiac]

There's the TTPod T1-E for less than half of each of those but I'm not fond of any IEMs that don't have the cable over the earlobes to help it stay in place. YMMV, search for the reviews here.

 

[arenix]

Hm im not too sure about that kind of headphones, never tried it before ️ what's the difference in between the different fits?

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Hm im not too sure about that kind of headphones, never tried it before ️ what's the difference in between the different fits?

 
I. Ergonomic Design : Look at how more organically the Aurisonics and Westone (plus similar ones like Shure, Earsonics, the newer Fender-Aurisonics DXA-1, etc) are designed to fit in the space in the outer ear apart from just inserting essentially a padded tube into your ear canal. Cables are routed above and around the earlobes to help with traction and stay in place. In the case of Aurisonics and others that mimic the outer shell shape of  custom IEMs, they spread the friction around a lot better at the outer ear, rather than the tendency of the other type of ergonomic shell that looks like a seashell to apply nearly all friction on the eartip in the ear canal and them a little bit of it rests on the outer ear and then a bit on the cable.  Note though that the problem with larger shells like Aurisonics is that if it's much larger than that cavity outside your ear then it won't fit properly, and the primary reason for this design is to accommodate their original 15mm drivers (in the ASG-1 to ASG-1.3) and the air space it needed, plus they had an archive of ear impressions from which they were able to have a computer design one that was an average out of all those ears.
 
Aurisonics Kicker

 
Aurisonics ASG-1.x

 
Westone UM3X

 
 
II. Sennheiser still routs the cable up and around the earlobe, but a robot or otherwise something not human was used for a model because no section of the human ear is actually shaped like this.
 
IE8 and IE80 (IE80 just had some minor modifications to the side that meets the earlobe, not visible from this angle, that improves it, but the fundamental problem remained)

 
IE7 (just to illustrate, here's their worst design poking an earlobe)

 
 
III. Other IEM designs typically have the cable going downwards, but that basically doesn't use the cable to help the IEM "hang on" to your ears...
 
TT-Pod T1-e

 
 
...and while some can be worn cable up, the ergonomics are usually still different and might be affected in other ways. It still has to be angled in a way that still does not lie on the ear as organically as the first set.

TT-Pod T1-e, cable up

 

[arenix]

Thanks for the explanation, is there something a bit cheaper? All I'm really bothered about is getting something better than my departed sennheisers cx300II, what about the two that I found above?

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Quote:

Thanks for the explanation, is there something a bit cheaper? All I'm really bothered about is getting something better than my departed sennheisers cx300II, what about the two that I found above?

 

Well you didn't state any pricing constraints. Between the price of the CX300II and the ones I posted, as far as what I've tried goes, chances are what you'll get is either more bass but not better in any other way or better in other ways but likely a bit less bass. SE215 has more bass but the only other improvement would be the ergonomics. Also, the IE80 and Kicker are double the price of that but you can't really get any more bass past those without sacrificing the quality of the midrange, so basically if what you want is a lot of bass but decent everywhere else in the range, those two are practically the best you can get anyway.

 

If you really want to spend less than those your best bets are the VSonic VSD3 (get teh fixed cable version as the stock cable on the removable version sucks, and the socket has a tendency to break the copper inside), MEE M6, and the TT-Pod T1-E.