Maximum bass for <£30
Nov 23, 2011 at 6:21 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 31

Wizzard

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Now, the title is slightly misleading but throughout my relatively brief audiophilic experience, I've realised that for vast majority of Head-Fi residents, the sense of bass is clearly much stronger than me (in other words, what they call bassy is not, in my opinion) and hence the title.
Pretty simple, looking for whatever kind of portable earphones/headphones/IEM's for no more than £30. 
The budget is a tight one but this is due to the fact that my intended headphones are half price and cost £23 and I just don't see the need to spend more.
The music that I listen to is 97% Electronic. It's either Progressive Trance, Electro House or D'n'B.
I've had lots of headphones in the past (talking about portable here) but only 2 of them have been somewhat decent.
I had the UE 220 which I absolutely loved and thought they were incredible. The bass was just about right and everything about them was fantastic. However, the cable broke after about a year even though I always rolled them up. So, once this happened I came to Head-Fi to look for IEM's and right enough, found a suitable pair, Klipsch Image S2 which everyone suggested. Unfortunately, they were no what I expected. The SQ was sufficient but nowhere near the 220's quality. Bass was poor (although, people assured me that S2 have plenty of it). And the biggest problem of all, once you put the headphones in, it felt like an alien was probing your brain (they go in real deep). They also look very strange and it didn't bother me at the start but with time, it started to annoy me. 
I guess the type of sound that I'm looking for is commercial. Okay, let me explain. As far as I'm aware, most popular headphone consumer brands make a specific type of headphones. Like Beats for example. Very bass heavy and not all that suitable for most audiophiles. I would classify these as commercial types of headphones. Now, I'm by no means and audiophile so this is the kind of sound I like. Something that has overpowering bass would really work for me. For example, I tried Beats Solo and thought they had a great sound (don't hate on me) so that could be a ballpoint as to what I'm looking for.
 
So, right now I have 3 options.
AIAIAI Y-Model, AIAIAI Swirl 2.0 and AIAIAI Pipe.
 
The reason for my choices is that I've found a quite a good deal on them and I doubt that they'll be bad for the price as they seem to be tended for a trendy market which in turn would typically feature the commercial sound which in another turn is what I want.
 
I'm leaning towards the Swirl or Y-Model because they're more expensive than Pipe (only by a few quid but this might make a difference) but I'm unsure what the difference is as they look near exact same and I can't find Y-Model on their website to compare with Swirl. 
 
I apologies for the rather long and incoherently written article but I'm half asleep so that's my excuse for today.
 
Thanks in advance,
Wizzard
 
 
 
Nov 28, 2011 at 5:36 AM Post #4 of 31
I recently got a chance to try out MEElectronics M31 and I really liked the sound. I thought it was great. However, they were really uncomfortable and this is what put me off (I got to try it out pretty extensively). I'm going to go ahead and raise my budget to £40 - £50 if I can find something with a similar (or better) sound signature but better comfort. I would prefer if the IEM's were over-the-ear intended but as long as they're comfortable, I don't mind.
 
Nov 28, 2011 at 4:51 PM Post #8 of 31
Xears may be what you're looking for. Their models are great bang/buck and some have insane bass. I'd consult the appreciation thread.
 
Edit: don't let the prices on their website fool you, there's a coupon code ("klangfuzzis") that discounts all models to €30.
 
Nov 28, 2011 at 5:02 PM Post #9 of 31

 
Quote:
Xears may be what you're looking for. Their models are great bang/buck and some have insane bass. I'd consult the appreciation thread.
 
Edit: don't let the prices on their website fool you, there's a coupon code ("klangfuzzis") that discounts all models to €30.



Thanks a lot. Will sniff around :D
 
Anadin - I'm sorry but I forgot to reply to you. I'm not going to go for that deal right now since I'm afraid of the comfort issues but I'll keep considering it. Thanks anyway, man.
 
Nov 29, 2011 at 11:03 PM Post #10 of 31


Quote:
 


Thanks a lot. Will sniff around :D
 
Anadin - I'm sorry but I forgot to reply to you. I'm not going to go for that deal right now since I'm afraid of the comfort issues but I'll keep considering it. Thanks anyway, man.



I'm in the same bandwagon as you. If you can hold off, I'll let you know how my Xears Ultraphiles sound because I'm a budget basshead just like you.
 
Nov 30, 2011 at 3:55 AM Post #12 of 31
Meelectronic m6!
 
Nov 30, 2011 at 10:54 PM Post #14 of 31


Quote:
+1 won't find better bass than these until you quadruple the price.


That's what I've heard and am planning on buying those.
 
Anyway, OP, I literally just got my Xears Ultraphiles two seconds ago. I tested out a couple songs at low volume.
 
First things first, cable seems a little 'oily' (not meaning they're slippery) which is good because it won't be gripping on my clothes and tugging on anything A little driver flex on the right IEM but not much because they fit nicely into my ears. The IEMs are fairly light and create little to no pull on my ears. Build quality seems ok. The wire I was expecting to feel much thicker and have much less give but can't say much for now.
 
Onto the sound, they are bassy IEMs surely. Though not overwhelming, the whole spectrum of sounds from each and every song were played nicely.
 
I posted this on the Xears appreciation thread :
 
"Definitely agree with the distant sounding. For a second, I almost fully regretted my purchase because I wasn't used to the sound signature. I did experience driver flex on the right IEM onl. After a couple minutes of playing around with them, the sound signature didn't sound bad at all even though it was distant. I even found a quick little EQ fix which dramatically changes the distant sound. On my iPhone, I used the "Piano" EQ and that one made it sound far less distant sounding. "
 
Are these bassy? Yup! Do they get maximum bass? Sadly, no. Of all the IEMs I've tried (not too many), I still miss my NuForce NE-6's. Those were my favorite. They had more bass than these ultraphiles even with bass boost EQ lol.
 
BTW, the songs I tested them on were (on my recently added playlist
smily_headphones1.gif
):
1 Felguk - Bassive
2 Avicii - **** School
3 Sunloverz - Fire
4 Virtu - Elixir
 
 
 
Dec 1, 2011 at 4:18 AM Post #15 of 31


Quote:
That's what I've heard and am planning on buying those.
 
Anyway, OP, I literally just got my Xears Ultraphiles two seconds ago. I tested out a couple songs at low volume.
 
First things first, cable seems a little 'oily' (not meaning they're slippery) which is good because it won't be gripping on my clothes and tugging on anything A little driver flex on the right IEM but not much because they fit nicely into my ears. The IEMs are fairly light and create little to no pull on my ears. Build quality seems ok. The wire I was expecting to feel much thicker and have much less give but can't say much for now.
 
Onto the sound, they are bassy IEMs surely. Though not overwhelming, the whole spectrum of sounds from each and every song were played nicely.
 
I posted this on the Xears appreciation thread :
 
"Definitely agree with the distant sounding. For a second, I almost fully regretted my purchase because I wasn't used to the sound signature. I did experience driver flex on the right IEM onl. After a couple minutes of playing around with them, the sound signature didn't sound bad at all even though it was distant. I even found a quick little EQ fix which dramatically changes the distant sound. On my iPhone, I used the "Piano" EQ and that one made it sound far less distant sounding. "
 
Are these bassy? Yup! Do they get maximum bass? Sadly, no. Of all the IEMs I've tried (not too many), I still miss my NuForce NE-6's. Those were my favorite. They had more bass than these ultraphiles even with bass boost EQ lol.
 
BTW, the songs I tested them on were (on my recently added playlist
smily_headphones1.gif
):
1 Felguk - Bassive
2 Avicii - **** School
3 Sunloverz - Fire
4 Virtu - Elixir
 


Thanks a lot, man.
This has definitely made me more keen on getting the JVC's as I was never entirely sure about the Ultraphiles but I might give them a try anyway (they're cheap after all).
I'll report back once I've made up my mind and I've gotten some IEM.
 
BTW Excellent choice of songs :]
 

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