[Leo888]

Quote:

 
I think the RE272 is slightly better than the RE262 but mostly just different in signature - brighter, cooler, etc. RE262 fans might not necessarily like the RE272 more.
 
 
 

 
Quote:

Here am I, re262 fan. I do prefer re262 over re272 due to the sound sig, though I consider re272 to be technically better. Judging by Leo888 forum sig headphones, I bet he will like re262 more too.

 
Thanks joker and kostalex for the feedbacks. From where I am, there's no place to audition the Hifiman products but will try to look up in my local forum/owners to see if anyone can let me try out theirs. Will post back again when I've done so. Thanks again.

 

[GL1TCH3D]

Well I ended up going the route of the 535 over the 425.
My notes on this after having used the 425 for 2 weeks then hearing them side by side.
The 535 is an amazing pair with the major flaw for me being the sibilance.
Of course mine are brand new and maybe (just maybe) burn in will help calm that sibilance.
But side by side, the 425 is really bass light while the 535 really hits each and everyone of those bass notes.
The impact is of course, much better with the 535.
I find the separation is another huge difference between the 2. I found during more complex tracks, the 425 have difficulty keeping up while the 535 seems to do it with ease.
In terms of the treble. I find it's fairly equal. Though, with more bass, it means the treble is less prominent but it still has power.
The mids are even more smooth on the 535 than the 425.

Overall, I really like the 535.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

When I bidded for the free phones ljokerl was giving away I promised to make a comparison plot between them and the Philips SHE3580.  I've finished it and it's been sitting in my hard drive a while, with me not quite knowing what to do with it.  Anyway, here it is:
 

Black is the Ultimate Ears UE100 I got from joker, using the small (2nd smallest) stock UE tips, red is the SHE3580 using the small (smallest) stock Philips tips
(Ignore the discrepancy past the last black and red spike, I can't really hear that high in frequency)
 
The difference doesn't look like much, but it sums up much of the difference I hear between these two phones, because when I apply the inverse of these FR curves, they then have the same frequency response and I also can't hear any difference between them I can pinpoint.  The UE100 sounds a little less "clean" but there's not much in it (when playing sine tones through the UE100 it sounded less "pure" than other phones I've heard.  Harmonic distortion?).  These days I can take any IEM I own and get them to sound almost exactly like any other IEM I own after applying the inverse of their frequency response.  Not that I'm complaining; most of them sound about perfect.

You can understand that given such a enormous technical finding, I am at a loss for words to describe their differences in conventional audio terms...  Although this is not exactly surprising given how close headphones are to perfection apart from frequency response: http://www.head-fi.org/t/566929/headphone-csd-waterfall-plots/735#post_8479080 (read a few posts down to see an incredibly clean waterfall plot generated by correcting the frequency response alone)
 
I will detail my method for equalizing my phones here if anyone's interested:
www.head-fi.org/t/615417/how-to-equalize-your-headphones-advanced-tutorial-in-progress
 
The UE100 indeed have more polite highs than the SHE3580 as joker promised.  It makes most music I listen to listenable at decent volumes without EQ.  That said I won't be ditching my EQ just yet   (In fact I just gave up on ever finding a good parametric EQ for my Android phone, broke down and processed all the songs on my phone for the SHE3580 with Electri-Q through foobar.  My only regret is I left the phone without any unprocessed songs so that the other day when I happened across a shop with IEMs to audition (some House of Marley phones), I was left without any songs to audition them with...)

 

[suman134]

how mighty is the she3580 ? man , the hje120 , es18 , are invisible to many , joker said it . get it , bag it , empty the stocks , why buy something else ? no insult to any one man , i have a she3582 and i dont see it better then my es18 nor over the she 3680 .
 

 

[Dany91]

Quote:

Can I throw in the suggestion here for everyone that you include what music you like to listen to, especially when asking for recommendations or giving impressions? For example, some IEMs (or headphones) that work well with jazz or classical may sound awful and piercing with modern pop and rock.  Also mentioning if you listen at quiet, moderate or loud levels is important. Same thing again. 

I listen to many genres of music, although I most electronic music, uplifting trance, dance ... but also soundtracks, pop, rock, etc... love the emotional melodies generally
 
Quote:

 
The M2 has decent treble, a little rolled-off at the top but clean and not harsh/sibilant. I think it would be a good NE6 replacement. You can also match the NE-6 a little below that price range - with the Dunu Trident, for example, or the VSonic GR99. 

Thanks although I still indecision about which one to try to buy ... regardless of the price / quality ratio as high, medium and low feel better the NuForce NE6?

 

[ljokerl]

Quote:

Thanks although I still indecision about which one to try to buy ... regardless of the price / quality ratio as high, medium and low feel better the NuForce NE6?

 
The M2 is pretty likable, I'd go with that.

 

[Dany91]

the review is known that the iem bass / midrange oriented, I really appreciate the orchestral trance and treble to me are still important, if less high NuForce clear of trying to look better than other
 

 

[91tyler]

sorry wrong thread.

 

[ljokerl]

Quote:

the review is known that the iem bass / midrange oriented, I really appreciate the orchestral trance and treble to me are still important, if less high NuForce clear of trying to look better than other
 

 
The NE-6 isn't exactly king of treble either, so I think you'll be fine. If you want more prominent treble and don't mind more recessed mids, you can grab a VSonic GR02 Bass Edition instead.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

Quote:

how mighty is the she3580 ? man , the hje120 , es18 , are invisible to many , joker said it . get it , bag it , empty the stocks , why buy something else ? no insult to any one man , i have a she3582 and i dont see it better then my es18 nor over the she 3680 .
 

 
How does the 3680 compare to the 3580?  Do they sound any different?

 

[Mysterious]

What would you say is the best all rounder for under 100$ right now ?

 

[ljokerl]

Quote:

What would you say is the best all rounder for under 100$ right now ?

 
Out of what I've heard, I would say the Sunrise Xcape IE. But the MEElec A161P (reviewed in this thread as the pricier Fischer SBA-03) is probably a contender.

 

[suman134]

i had them sleeping for a long time , and now i brought them to life again , they both are a u shaped iems , 3680 seems to have some more clarity as it booms a little less , 3582 has nice bass and good clarity too , highs are nice , lows are good mids are a bit down . here what i have made of for some low end iems .
 
          ep600 < hje140 < ue 200 < she 3580 < hje120 < she 3680 < es18 < hje 355 .
 
and this is my personal view ,
 

 
a bit blur , but not bad for a 4 year old mobile .

 

[akkib89]

Hey Joker, it would be nice if you mentioned the "value" of the headphones just beside each one of them in the list you have used to categorise them according to their price range. I often get confused which phone is over where repeatedly and it would be nice if I could use the "value" just as a cross-reference. Saves a lot of time. Just an advice though.

 

[gerasalus]

Hi all,
 
my old AKG K319 which i loved for few years broke few months ago. So after reading head-fi.org IEM comparison i bought SoundMagic E30 (best value for the price, bla bla. etc.) and frankly saying i was not impressed. They lacked that detailed sound my old K319 had. Fortunately (or maybe not) i managed to loose them, so now i have an excuse to get something better. I do not want so spend a fortune on this (AKG K319 were a bit pricier than E30), but i want to get something more than E30 gave me.
 
So .. was thinking about Brainwavz M4, BeyerDynamic DTX 71 iE or AKG K340 (those are now hugely discounted, but i have doubts about durability, a lot of negative reviews about short life span). Any thoughts? I am kind of mainstream listener leaning a bit more towards Soft Rock, Indie and sometimes Minimal/Electro.