[koven]

go with the re0, they're amazing for the price

 

[temuryusuf]

I must say I'm being overwhelmed by the universal support for the RE0.

Guess I have narrowed down my choices to exactly one.

You guys are immensely helpful

Is it possible to get the Soundmagic foam tips separately? Anywhere online?

 

[mvw2]

What do you use for car-fi? I'm curious what brands/models you like. Maybe it'll help gear you towards specific head-fi options that offer a similar presentation.

There is never one choice.

Frankly, if you want to do this right. Buy one option. Run it for a bit and see how you like it. If it's what you want, keep it. If it isn't what you want, try another candidate and sell off the previous product. The end goal is to find something you can truly be happy with. Unfortunately, this will require some trial and error. You will have to try out a wide variety of products in order to gauge what's available and what actually performs the way you want. There's a 50% chance you may like the RE0. There's a 50% chance you won't. The same goes for all the other options suggested. Unfortunately it's not cut and dry simply because audio is largely a matter of preference.

 

[koven]

frosting on the cake: re0 has a 30-day return policy, u just need to pay return shipping, which should be $5 at most

you either love them, or return them for ur money back.. win-win

just wanted to add that mine did noticeably improve with burn-in

 

[temuryusuf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by koven /img/forum/go_quote.gif frosting on the cake: re0 has a 30-day return policy, u just need to pay return shipping, which should be $5 at most

Does this hold if I buy from the Head-Direct website?
If so, truly frosting on the cake.

I'll make sure I let them burn-in well with pink noise. First foray into decent IEM territory, hope it's all worth it!

 

[astralmind]

I received my RE0 last night and the burn in theory does seem to apply quite a bit with them ! Never was a strong believer but with 12 hours of burn in they already improved quite a bit and from what I have read they do improve even more after a good 40 hours.

Overall, extremely impressed so far (moving "up" from Shure SE310s)

 

[headfever]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mvw2 /img/forum/go_quote.gif They're all very different sounding earphones. Each has their particular benefits and weaknesses. The right one is the one that best fits your personal preferences. Each earphone will do certain things better then other earphones. It is hard to simply state that X is better then Y unless X does a LOT of things better then Y or Y does some things very bad, i.e. a very flawed earphone. First off, what kind of sound are you looking for? Telling us what music you listen to doesn't mean anything. I could say I like ACDC, Barry White, and Godsmack, but what does that say about my preference in sound? Not much at all. By sound, I mean things like tonality, dynamics, level of detail, articulation of note, stage presence, transparency, etc. What do you want the earphone to sound like? What is your ideal? Describe it...in detail, and I mean excruciating detail. From here, we can actually point you towards an earphone or several that actually sound close to what you really like.

your are correct. don't ride the blind horse to look for something.

 

[mvw2]

It's a useful step to narrow down options. I do still find that you still need to do a little trial and error for finding just the right earphone. I know largely what I want. I scoured Head-Fi and Google for reviews and comments on what options may fit my tastes. There is always more then one good candidate. In the end, I still had to buy, try, sell, and rebuy new options until I found something I could be wholly content with. I went through several popular and good options till I found something I really liked and was happy with it every time I put it on.

All I can suggest, funding allowable, buy all the good options you can. Demo, compare, and keep the better options. Don't ever feel constrained to just one product. If you're not happy, sell it, and buy another potential candidate. At the very least, each option you test gives you a little more experience and understanding in the hobby and a broader scope of the products available. Experience is never a bad thing. The challenge is mainly trying to gain it without lightening the wallet in the process. It typically requires buying used which many folks do shy away from. I think I had 6-7 earphones just laying around at one point, some I really liked, some I didn't. Later I whittled it down to one. There's still products out there that I want to try and new products pop up all the time. The audio hobby is an evolution. Even in my car, I've had over 20 different drivers (tweeters, mid woofers, subs) installed testing new and good products, mixing and matching, and generally just finding what I liked as well as what worked well and well together. It's very far from common practice, but it's the best way to get what you want. I still have new plans for the car that I'm sure will not be the end. Keep testing and tweaking till you end up with a really good product that you're really happy about. Find that thing that impresses you and puts a smile on your face every time you use it. In head-fi specifically, my experience is somewhat limited, but I was most impressed by Etymotic's ER4S, the definitive reference IEM for a good reason, and Yuin's OK1 which I now use exclusively, a stellar product as long as you don't really need a IEM and the isolation.

 

[egosumlux]

Be aware that RE0 has an almost linear bass that is slightly shy so if you want a slighty more energetic sound you may choose a different option like the RE-ZERO or the RE-400