potatotron
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2006
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My mid-fi adventure started in the summer of 2005, when I was in Hong Kong for an extended sort of vacation. Back then, I owned a Creative Nomad MuVo TX FM and was really a bit of a fool - in order to increase the number of songs I could store on the measly 256 MB of storage (you can't really blame me for this - after all, it was a month away from the computer!), I encoded my songs at 64 kbps WMA and thought all was well. In any case, I somewhat buffoonishly decided that I wanted to replace my slightly broken Sony MDR-G73s with a pair of headphones that would cost me a lot of money. After doing a bit of rather expensive in-hotel internet research, I decided on the Shure E2cs - decent, according to CNET, and only a hundred Canadian dollars. I bought them, used them with my 64 kbps WMAs and was thoroughly impressed by the difference but I decided I wanted some slightly better source audio. I've since gone to FLAC/V0 for portable use and I haven't looked back - but that's beside the point. In any case, I was very, very happy with the E2cs: better than what I had before and isolating - what's not to love?
I used them for about a year and a half, until the sound started cutting out of the right channel depending on how the cable was positioned. My poor E2cs were relegated, then, to the drawer while I used a pair of EX51s instead - a bit of a step down, but acceptable enough, I thought. Then those died too - interestingly enough, also in the right channel.
Stuck without headphones other than the iPod pack-ins - which I can't bring myself to use - I came here and researched for a very large number of hours. I decided that I wanted to try the UM1s, but then Shure announced their new line of IEMs and I learned that the q-JAYS would be due out sometime in April. Armed with this slightly discouraging information, I decided to wait until the spring to splurge on a new pair of IEMs - but until then, I'd need a pair of interim headphones to tide me over. Finding the Marshmallows highly regarded, I went out to Future Shop and bought a pair on sale, and I was pretty impressed with the sound, especially for twenty dollars.
That was about a week ago. Today, I thought it would be a good idea to resurrect the E2cs and do a comparison between those two and whatever other low-end canalphones I've got lying around the house - just the left channel of the EX51s and my brother's Panasonic HJE50s, as it turned out. The results weren't what I expected at all.
While I knew the Marshmallows were decent, I never expected them to be better than the E2cs - but they sure as hell were. Using the small orange Shure foamies on the JVCs and the small flex tips on the Shures (these sounded best on these particular phones, in my opinion), I found that the E2cs sounded terribly hollow compared to the Marshmallows - the mids and highs seemed a good few meters away and very, very weak, while the bass was very prominent. The Marshmallows seemed far more balanced - and, to boot, cymbals were very well defined. The E2c's bass, while strong, was very floppy compared to that of the JVCs, which was tight but still packed sufficient enough a wallop. The Panasonics were decent and balanced enough in their own right, but they were a bit tinny, like laptop speakers. While they were more balanced, I don't know if I'd rate them as better than the Shures - but perhaps my judgement is a bit clouded by the buyer's remorse associated with having a pair of $20 headphones best a pair of $100 headphones in virtually every facet. Sadly, I couldn't conclusively test the EX51s since only one channel works, but I remember A-Bing them with the Shures and finding that they were a bit muddier still. Yikes.
In summary:
Shure E2c - Recessed, hollow highs and mids; strong, boomy bass.
JVC Marshmallow - Balanced; detailed, well-defined highs; punchy bass.
Panasonic HJE50 - Balanced, but a little tinny; slightly weak bass.
Sony EX51 - From what I remember, like the E2cs but a little worse.
In conclusion, then, if you need a pair of kick-around IEMs or you don't really want to spend that much, go for the JVC Marshmallows, which have utterly bested similar pairs that go for twice and four times as much, respectively. I'm thrilled with mine.
I used them for about a year and a half, until the sound started cutting out of the right channel depending on how the cable was positioned. My poor E2cs were relegated, then, to the drawer while I used a pair of EX51s instead - a bit of a step down, but acceptable enough, I thought. Then those died too - interestingly enough, also in the right channel.
Stuck without headphones other than the iPod pack-ins - which I can't bring myself to use - I came here and researched for a very large number of hours. I decided that I wanted to try the UM1s, but then Shure announced their new line of IEMs and I learned that the q-JAYS would be due out sometime in April. Armed with this slightly discouraging information, I decided to wait until the spring to splurge on a new pair of IEMs - but until then, I'd need a pair of interim headphones to tide me over. Finding the Marshmallows highly regarded, I went out to Future Shop and bought a pair on sale, and I was pretty impressed with the sound, especially for twenty dollars.
That was about a week ago. Today, I thought it would be a good idea to resurrect the E2cs and do a comparison between those two and whatever other low-end canalphones I've got lying around the house - just the left channel of the EX51s and my brother's Panasonic HJE50s, as it turned out. The results weren't what I expected at all.
While I knew the Marshmallows were decent, I never expected them to be better than the E2cs - but they sure as hell were. Using the small orange Shure foamies on the JVCs and the small flex tips on the Shures (these sounded best on these particular phones, in my opinion), I found that the E2cs sounded terribly hollow compared to the Marshmallows - the mids and highs seemed a good few meters away and very, very weak, while the bass was very prominent. The Marshmallows seemed far more balanced - and, to boot, cymbals were very well defined. The E2c's bass, while strong, was very floppy compared to that of the JVCs, which was tight but still packed sufficient enough a wallop. The Panasonics were decent and balanced enough in their own right, but they were a bit tinny, like laptop speakers. While they were more balanced, I don't know if I'd rate them as better than the Shures - but perhaps my judgement is a bit clouded by the buyer's remorse associated with having a pair of $20 headphones best a pair of $100 headphones in virtually every facet. Sadly, I couldn't conclusively test the EX51s since only one channel works, but I remember A-Bing them with the Shures and finding that they were a bit muddier still. Yikes.
In summary:
Shure E2c - Recessed, hollow highs and mids; strong, boomy bass.
JVC Marshmallow - Balanced; detailed, well-defined highs; punchy bass.
Panasonic HJE50 - Balanced, but a little tinny; slightly weak bass.
Sony EX51 - From what I remember, like the E2cs but a little worse.
In conclusion, then, if you need a pair of kick-around IEMs or you don't really want to spend that much, go for the JVC Marshmallows, which have utterly bested similar pairs that go for twice and four times as much, respectively. I'm thrilled with mine.
