[victorg]

Hi guys,

I've been reading the forum for days, mainly on the shure e4c, e3c. After my creative Zen Micro and shure e2c were stolen, I have the need to get a new rig up and running. I liked the performance of my micro and e2cs, but there is always room for improvment....

that being said i need your wisdom/expierience on what I am thinking of buying. It seems that despite its relative market age, the karma is the best "audiophile" grade mp3 player (if such a thing can exist in the mp3 format). Also, while the e4c has gotten largely rave reviews, the e3c can be brought up on the low end and high end with a relativly good EQ on an MP3 player. And, the e3c is half the price.

My questions to you:

1.) What other MP3 players can drive shure's headphones well? (specifically the e3c). Is karma really the only game out there?
2.) Since i own estats i doubt i will ever get equal quality out of ear canals, so I'm not looking for crem de crem. I am looking for something agressive (bassy more than highs) and for use on the portable scene. I am coming from thinking the e3cs were decent enough. Am I correct in assuming I can look to the E3cs for a little upgrade? Do i really need to looks at the e4c?

Thanks in advance wise ones.

 

[thebrain]

Hello, welcome to head-fi, sorry about your wallet.

I, like you, had the e2c's but I wanted to upgrade and from what Ive heard the e3c's have not much in the highs and their base isnt fantastic. I, personally, am skipping right up to the e4c's($190) which are supposed to pretty much be better than hte e3c's in every way (better bass, treble,etc)

If anyone has a different opinion, please feel free to disagree.

I always thought the plain ol' ipod had a decent amp ( be careful though, I have heard that some photo ipods have distortion at certain frequencies)

 

[Ingo]

You owned a Zen Micro before, so I'm pretty sure you won't be satisfied with an iPod.

Go with either the Karma or the iAudio X5 and some E4s. Yeah, that should be good. Drop either ~$400 on the Karma/E4 combo, or ~$500-$600 on the X5/E4 combo. Remember you can't put a price on KILLER portable audio.

 

[nick danger]

I have the E3c and the Karma and love it. I just tried the Creative Nano Plus with the E3c and the Nano Plus was anemic, no oomph. I'm not trying to blow out my ears and the Karma can drive the E3c to extremes without breaking a sweat.

With or without the equalizer, the Karma works well.

When the environment is quiet I find a hard time setting the volume low enough (2/40) on the Karma using the E3c and the quality is still there.

The Nano had to be pretty loud (27/40) to achieve a fuller sound. I remember trying the IPOD and I thought it was at the lower end of the "fuller" spectrum also.

And using the parametric equalizer is a treat. You can really tune the karma to match your headphones.
So for a nice full sound, I liKe the karma with the E3c.

 

[mr_baseball_08]

I've never heard the E4's but got some E3C's on a pretty good deal, and I've been happy ever since. They were my first set of canalphones and I love the bass these little guys put out. That being said, I really didn't like them at first and they did take a little getting used to. But now I can hear so much more than I did before. As far as a source goes, I got a 20 GB Creative Zen Touch. While (sort of) short on the features list, I love this little thing as well. While many people "harp" on the fact that it's "so much" bigger than the iPod, it's size doesn't really bother me. Easily fits in your pocket. Doesn't have the greatest EQ but it certainly gets the job done. Also sounds great unamped. But anyway. That's just my 2 cents. If you have any questions or anything feel free to PM me.

JD

 

[jonnywolfet]

my gmini400 has a lovely little bass boost which drives my e3cs to a charm. all my colleagues now have a gmini400.!

 

[dura]

I use my E3 with a Sony NW-HD1. Good combination, but only after I added some EQ. The E3 IMO really need EQ, to counterbalnce their midforwardness. Luckely, they repond very well to a good EQ.