[lucozade]

Hi to all you head-fi'ers out there, My name is darron and im rather new to the world of high end ear monitors and indeed to head fi, ive been hanging around in the shadows now for a few months reading reviews and gaining invaluble imformation on ear phones, and over the last five months have built up my small collection of high end universal monitors, its been intresting and sometimes frustating but over all its been one hell off a ride and i thought i would share my experience so far with you all.My intent is to give a short reveiw of the iems that i have so far and will do my best to compair them with each other.This is my first post so bear with me as i write this up over the next day or so .and i look forward to eny comments or sugestions enyone may have.
The iems i will reveiw will be in the order that i bought them.

triple fi 10
sennheiser ie7
sennheiser ie8
shure se420
klipsch custom 3
westone 3
shure se530
monster turbine pro gold
ortofon eq7
monster turbine pro copper
thanks darron

 

[macshooter]

Interested to here how the SE530 stack up to the TF10, IE8 and W3.

 

[headfever]

Welcome Darren, I am looking forward your reviews.

 

[lucozade]

Ok folks here goes, This all begun when my trusty old sennheiser mx75's kevlar cable slit open down the entire length after 3 years faithfull service.The mx75's were my first upgrade from the stock ipod ear phones and they were a vast improvement over these, they had a smallish but enjoyable soundstage, mids were very nice and triple was lovely and detailed,both these frequency's complemented each other well, neither being more forward than the ofter but the mx75 didnt really have eny bass to speak off,but the overall sound was'nt bad for what was then a £50 earphone and they fitted my ears very well and were held in place by the little arm with the wheel on top.
Enyway after the cables split i searched the internet and came across this site and after reading many rewiews on here (ive really injoyed the imformation ive gained from reading the posts of many on here like SOOZIEQ and MARK2410 . I decided to take the plunge and jump in at the deep end so to speak and ordered a pair of triple fi 10's

 

[lucozade]

Hi macshooter, i will try to get my comparisons up today for you so keep tuned in.

i have my ie8s in my ears now playing BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD through my 5th generation ipod, the ie8s sound great with this player and even better when amped by my main home system,then they can really sing, i find the 8s to be quite hard to drive ,my 7th generation ipods just dont cut it with them ,there limited volume just dos'nt have the power to drive the ie8s to there full potental.

 

[lucozade]

Hi headfever ,Thanks for the welcome,i hope to have some reviews up here a bit later today.

 

[lucozade]

The triple fi-10 was my first high end iem
when it arrived i was very excited and after opening it up and thinking how lovely it looked with its gum blue body, i chose which tip fited me best, (medium silicon single flange in my case) i plugged it into my ipod 160g,7th generation and started to play my music for quite a few hrs that night and most of the next day.The sound quality was execellent , a signifegent jump up from my old sennheisers mx75, i was like totally blown away by the details i was now hearing out of these phones,the sound was much nearer to what im used to hearing from my high end home set up, and i now had a good solid bass on my headphones.I did find that the sound signiture changed quite abit depending on what tips were used, i found the compy tips made the bass too deep and took away all the definition in the bass and made the triple sound as if it was smothered by a blanket, while the silicon tips made the sound more brighter and natural sounding.

SO HOW DO THESE SOUND:

BASS

I have found these to be the most netraul sounding out off all my iems.
The bass is well defined and you can hear the difference between bass guitar and bass drums/ drums ,and it is there in qauntity ,but only if it is present in the recording, these phones do not produce bass when it is not there .Also i found that with the silicon tips on the bass does not intrude on the mids in eny way and does not colour the vocals which is something im very perticular about.

MIDS

The mids are very nice on these and well defined , the vocals are neither too far forward or too far back but do suffer from a bit of sibilance

, (i do hate sibilance) but it is not a huge problem on these. guitars have a bit of kick and bite to them but without being aggressive.piano is nice and very natraul sounding.

TREBBLE

Trebble is the only freqency which to my ear has been tweeked abit to colour the sound signiture,it is very detailed and sparkly, most noticable on simbals and triangles etc.But having said that it does not come across as being harsh or sharp,more like soft and sparkly

SOUNDSTAGE

I find this the hardest to describe but here goes;
soundstage is quite large,and i can pick out all the different instrements and place them in my head so i would think this means the sound is quite open and well spaced with the lead singer in the middle of the stage slightly in front of the guitars piano etc.with drums and bass off to the flanks and to the back

FIT
On the down side i was never really happy with the fit off these, these stick out your ears like frankenstine bolts and while the memory wire tops bent around my ears kept them from falling off they would keep slipping out of my ear cannel a little every 10 mins or so ,which means im constantly pushing them back in to keep the seal which is required to mataine a deep bass response.For this reason the triples get played the least out of all my iems,which Is such a shame as when i do use them im still woowed by there sound quality and detail, in sound quality they hold up very well to my other iems.
So are there better iems out there,YES, but the triple fi 10 still holds its own against my other iems

Due to the fit issues my search for the perfect iem continued

 

[tstarn06]

Turn them into Customs and you will gain a new appreciation for the TF10s. Or try some Sony hybrids, a cheaper solution. The TF10s stay put with the hybrids and the bass extension is best of any tip I tried.

 

[dingrn]

Welcome darren! Cannot wait to read your reviews of Westone 3 and IE8.
To me, I have the similar impression with triple fi 10. Great bass, treble and soundstage. However, mid is a little too far for me, and vocal is thin, dry, not sweet at all. Its fit and isolation is headache for me. I do love TF10's sound, just wish it could be better fitted just like westone 3.

 

[lucozade]

My next iem after the triple fi-10 was the sennheiser ie7
my first impressions of these was like WOW what a fantastic well enginered box these come in,These must be very speacal, it was so well made (large black plastic embossed box)very well made and sealed like fort nox, took me a bout half an hr to get into it.
Inside the box was a bag containing about 10 different ear tips, a pair of ear hooks a very well made carry case made out of alliminuam to resemble a box with a draw in it to keep 4 ear tips and the phones them self along with a salt pack to keep them free from moisture.
The ie7's them self are very light and a bit cheap looking in comparison to my triple fi 10s but they seam sturdy enough and the cable is very soft and flexable.

BURN IN

I did not beleve in burn in till i got these, out of the box these sounded just dreadfull, the drivers were all over the place ,the bass was very muddy, very harsh vocals and very sibilent, but they do settle down quite abite after about 50hrs and keep getting better each hour i play them, i currently have about 200 hrs on them

FIT

These are possibly the most comfortable of all my iems to wear although im not really sold on eny of the supplyed ear tips and find it quite difficult to get a seal with these ,i find the large soft silicon tips pushed as far into my ear as possible provide the best fit and give a resonable seal while maintaning the soundstage and best all round sound quality.These isolate ok but along way from being best at isolation.

SO ,HOW DO THESE SOUND

These ie7s have a totally different sound signiture from my triples although these are single dymanic drivers so i was exspecting something different.
i find the ie7 to have an overall very soft and smooth underlying sound signiture lacking a bit of get up and go maybe,which does not suit all types of music.

BASS
The bass on these is very well done and there is plenty off it, again its quite well defined and detailed,a bit more so than the triple fi 10s and it defonatly comes across as more forward and upfront in the mix than the triples,but by no means boomy sounding,although this will depend on what tips you use, i find the compy tips unusable with all my iems ,they just drown out the top end and make the bass shapeless and boomy to my ears.

MIDS

This is a strange one on these , the vocals are way out in front and can sound a little harsh with some voices ,the rest of the middle instrements are all crystal clear though and the detail in the mids is very good ,piano and keyboards sound really lush on these and guitars have plenty of bite, drums are again well defined and quite powerfull on these,maybe a little more so than the triples

TREBBLE

Here is were the ie7s are let down a little in my ears , the trebble is good and there is a fair bit of detail there but i do feel there is just something missing from it and it has a slightly cheap sound to it, i cant really put my finger on it,combine this with the very forward vocals and these can get a bit fatiging at times inspite of there overall soft warm signiture.

SOUNDSTAGE

This is the ie7s strongest point,one it excells at, the sound stage is just HUGE ,its like being in a stadium listing to your music on these.

I think these are some what of an inquired taste that takes a few hrs to get used to each time i pick these up, but playing the right type of music on these can be quite rewarding.I find these good for older mono recordings and music that is not to quick and bissy sounding

So over all proberly a small step back from the triple fi-10 but still not bad as these were half the price of the triple 10s and i do find the fit more comftable so these are quite good for wearing at work,easy to take in and out when people speak to you

So my search continued for that perfect iem !

 

[lucozade]

hi dingrn,
yes its a shame that ue dont remake the triple 10 into a ear shell type like the westone 3 ,as the triple dose have a very good overall sound .i do agree the vocals are a bit thin sounding but i think thats what gives them there netraul sound so dont really have a problem with the sound, although i would'nt like to listen to that sound signiture all the time.

 

[DaeO]

I'm really seriously looking into upgrading to the IE8 - looking forward to your review of them!

 

[Zalithian]

Despite the fit issues I had with the IE8, they were still definitely my favorite of the IEMs I have owned.

 

[noisecancelationheadphone]

yeah
this the headphone review you mention that you gonna write
keep it up

 

[HONEYBOY]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lucozade /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hi macshooter, i will try to get my comparisons up today for you so keep tuned in. i have my ie8s in my ears now playing BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD through my 5th generation ipod, the ie8s sound great with this player and even better when amped by my main home system,then they can really sing, i find the 8s to be quite hard to drive ,my 7th generation ipods just dont cut it with them ,there limited volume just dos'nt have the power to drive the ie8s to there full potental.

Hi lucozade! Pleasant welcome to head fi! You're doing a great job. By the way may I ask what gears your home system consist of. Thanks