[nallyvaico]

How many of you guys use the E888's with or without their protective cap?

I took caps off recently and found the sound HUGELY spacious and involving, albeit losing some of its bass...

 

[Lizard_1]

Did you use a condom instead?

 

[Peddler]

Too damned expensive and fragile to be messed with in my opinion. They are used when I'm out and about because I don't want to use my Etymotics in this way.

They do sound good though - make an ideal match with all the portable electronics I own - SlimX, R900 MD, Sony D-915, etc.

Best pair of earbuds out there - far better than the EX-70s.

 

[Duncan]

...but not as good as the MX500s when played through a top notch source...

 

[redshifter]

cap? do you mean the paper filter over the transducers?

i removed the paper filters and replaced them with the fine mesh filters from a pair of broken e848. i prefer the airier sound of the e848 filter instead of the stock e888 paper.

 

[coolvij]

Duncan......I really do wonder about this E905 thing.....

I'm sure it's a superb player, and it must sound wonderful. However, I find it unlikely that *any* portable would provide the current the 888s want....I mean, with my JMT Penguin (a CHA47 that can spit some current, if you know what I mean), the MX500s were really considerably worse sounding to my ears than the 888s.

OTH, out of every portable I have, the 888s sounded fairly...well....midrangey...with only average treble extension and a poor bass presentation.

I dunno.....I think that earbuds should be tested with portables and with CURRENT-SPEWING amps

I do like the MX500s, don't get me wrong.....I just wonder if the E905 really has a super headphone out, in terms of current capacity, or if it just has a great, detailed sound with plenty of voltage.....

Food for thought.

 

[Duncan]

Well, Coolvij... hopefully by the end of this week I will have an JMT amp... so, then... we will see

 

[coolvij]

That's great to hear!

I really am interested.......

 

[nallyvaico]

Quote:

Originally posted by redshifter cap? do you mean the paper filter over the transducers? i removed the paper filters and replaced them with the fine mesh filters from a pair of broken e848. i prefer the airier sound of the e848 filter instead of the stock e888 paper.

Hi ALL again.

I was away for quite a while and couldn't follow the thread.
What I meant by a "cap" is foamies

Sorry for having misled all of you - it's been a while since I surfed Head-fi so extensively, and my English has become poorer losing some jargon

The poll should probably be rewritten.

Anyway, I have read much praise on the E888's here... What I need to know is do you people make your judgement on these with the bloody foamies on or off? It makes a whole lot of a difference!

I've owned my 888s for three months already (jointly with the R909 MD portable) and found their overall sound irritating at times. Having the foamies on or off is a trade-off every time I put the E888's on, since with the foamies on, bass is decent... but highs and mids are obscure; and without the foamies, weak bass, and EXCELLENT mids: the buds then sound so huge and spacious.

So, my dissatisfaction urged me to experiment. A couple of days ago, I thought to myself: why not cut holes in the foamies the way I did that with my Grado SR-60? The idea was to remove foam from the speakers that probably veiled the sound; this, I thought was to add bass while making the mid/highs unchanged.
I overdid it

making too big holes... and the foamies sometimes fell off the earbuds.

It didn't sound as I expected. The foam added bass alright... but it also added veil to the mids and highs - no improvement at all! Why? The speaker was clear of foam

Looked more like I spoiled my foamies.

I kept turning the buds in my hands and wondering: what is this flashy silver cover on its back for? Just for showing off? It looks great... especially with those small holes. Wait! What if it serves the same purpose as the holes on the back of my Grado cans? Grado cans are open. Are these too?

I just turned the foamies upside down, with the larger hole (which I cut myself) to the upside - the foam was on... but it left the silver cover open.

The first thing that I listened to with this mod was Nirvana's Unplugged - the man who sold the world. Wow! I couldn't believe it! The mod added bass and preserved the spaciousness. It now sounded soooooo HUGE and deep. I then changed to Led Zeppelin. To make the long story short, I couldn't take the E888's off for a couple of hours until the dead of night. It sounded real hi-end!

It turns out, the E888's are real OPEN earbuds and should be treated as such!