[aj_brown_99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by forsberg /img/forum/go_quote.gif For a first time IEM buyer, I'd stay with the mainstream IEM companies (Shure, UE, Westone, Etymotic).

I don't really see why that is. To me it seems that those four companies are the most mainstream/well-known companies because they make a LOT of headphones, that are mostly pretty decent. While some are brilliant, others are just not that great i.e. the lower end shures for example.

The thing is, I don't see why going with one of these companies and a decent headphone would be preferable to going with a less well-known one and a great headphone. As for the Mylars, I can see people getting excited over them at the beginning, but they really lost popularity once people realized how bad the build quality was. Imo all of the "flavors of the month" have been around long enough for people to realize if there was something going on similar to the Mylars.

As for the vibes, I wasn't really aware of them becoming popular at all, and frankly I can't see why they were

They have really nothing going for them besides tons of bass and they look nice.

 

[forsberg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aj_brown_99 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I don't really see why that is. To me it seems that those four companies are the most mainstream/well-known companies because they make a LOT of headphones, that are mostly pretty decent. While some are brilliant, others are just not that great i.e. the lower end shures for example. The thing is, I don't see why going with one of these companies and a decent headphone would be preferable to going with a less well-known one and a great headphone. As for the Mylars, I can see people getting excited over them at the beginning, but they really lost popularity once people realized how bad the build quality was. Imo all of the "flavors of the month" have been around long enough for people to realize if there was something going on similar to the Mylars. As for the vibes, I wasn't really aware of them becoming popular at all, and frankly I can't see why they were They have really nothing going for them besides tons of bass and they look nice.

But that's exactly my point. When companies like Mylar and V-Moda first released these IEMs, there were tons of threads here on these things and they gave them rave reviews with threads lasting like 100+ pages, so people start recommending them to everyone, even people who had no prior experience with any other IEMs. Basically they just bought the hype factor. Once that hyped died down, people realized they weren't that great after all. For a veteran it's easy to say, "Yeah, you know these Crossroads suck, they were fun while they lasted, but now I think I'll go back to my old trusted UM2s, I kinda prefer the Westone signature sound." But for some new guy, they'll go off thinking these Mylars are so uber amazing, when they haven't even heard an IEM staple sound from the big 4.

And sure, the lower-end Shures like the SE110 are nothing to write home about, but it gives them a basis to start their journey into the IEM world. One year down the line, they can still come back to head-fi and say, "Well, I've had these SE110s for a while and I want to upgrade, can you give me some comparisons....etc etc", and people will give them feedback because there will surely be folks here who had lower-end Shures. Whereas if you bought the Crosswords back then and asked for recommendations today for upgrades based off the Crosswords sound, how many people will be able to chime in and give an honest opinion?

 

[AmanGeorge]

I swear by the ER4P - it's as balanced as they come.

 

[refinery]

I also need help picking some new IEMs, but I didn't want to start another thread. Sorry if I feel like intruding into someone's thread, but I think I am in a similar problem.

I have purchased the Shure SCL4s for 86 dollars online. Are those good for the price?




I'm stuck between these:


Shure SCL4s ($86 bucks bought, so I'm going to get those anyways)

NuForce NE-7Ms ($49 + S&H if any, I don't want the 8Ms)

HEAD-DIRECT RE2 In-ear headphones ($79 with Fiio E3 amp, but I already have one =D)

HEAD-DIRECT RE1 In-ear headphones ($139 with Fiio E3 amp)

HEAD-DIRECT RE0 In-ear headphones ($159 with Fiio E3 amp)

*The RE0s are pushing my max budget of $150, but I save 50 rather than 30 if I get the RE0s than the RE1s*




Out of those, which ones have the best SQ overall? Also, how about the best value? Also, any other recommendations are great! I want to have the best bang for my buck, under 150 preferably. I've heard good stuff about the SF5 Pros and etc, but I cannot find a pair under 150. I also plan to get the Fiio E5, because the E3 is really great for only under 9 dollars.

Thanks!

 

[aj_brown_99]

Well, I think that out of these three the RE0 have the best sound quality, probably followed by the Shures. The RE0 are very precision and detail oriented, just like the other two of the line. If this is something you like in an iem, then both the RE2 and 0 are extremely good value for the money, and I am assuming it fits your sound signature taste since you suggested it. The RE2 is a little lighter on the bass, and somewhat ER6i-like in sound signature (not in quality though), while the RE0 has got a little more bass kick, and is kind of right in the middle as far as sound signature goes. I wouldn't recommend the RE1 for you since even though you plan on getting the E5, it is still quite a low-end amp, so they would probably not meet their full potential. I would not get them unless you plan on upgrading your amp any time soon.

@forsberg

Even though you would not be able to directly compare a less well known phone as well as say a shure or ety phone to future phones, you can always use a similar phone for comparison purposes. Also, to me with my limited budget, it is not worth it to blow $100 on some ****ty phone like the shure SE110 when you could get an RE2 with a similar sound signature and not want to upgrade a month later because the Shures suck just so that in the future I can get slightly better recommendations when I would probably be able to figure out what I needed on my own.

"But for some new guy, they'll go off thinking these Mylars are so uber amazing, when they haven't even heard an IEM staple sound from the big 4."

Well, for one thing, for $55 bucks the Mylars are pretty much "uber amazing" in sound quality at least, its just the build quality that sucks, and thats why no one talks about them any more. And I'm sure that new guys won't go around thinking that that kind of build quality is standard in an iem; if he got the recommendation off head-fi in the first place, then i'm pretty sure that he's gonna go back on and read all of the reviews talking about that problem.

Anyways, sorry for the angry sounding debate

and I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. Maybe I'm just crazy since I know that yours is the general opinion held by a lot of headfiers

 

[oogabooga]

I won't tell you to get the amazing triple.fi 10s that I have, since they are a bit over your price range.

I will however, point you in the direction of the Shure Music Adapter, which I use with my TF10s (they'll work with any headphones) to give me a jack that fits my iPhone, a mic, and a send/end/change song/start song button like with the iPhone buds, in case you find IEMs that aren't iPhone friendly.

Cheers!

 

[Feather225]

hahah...this might be weird...but from experience...I suggest you just get the top of line staff...because eventurely you are going to upgrade to that level and ends up wasting money buying entree level~lol~

Few heads up on high end: Westone 3, Senn IE8, SHure SE530, UE trifi, Image x10, AT ck10~

 

[forsberg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Feather225 /img/forum/go_quote.gif hahah...this might be weird...but from experience...I suggest you just get the top of line staff...because eventurely you are going to upgrade to that level and ends up wasting money buying entree level~lol~ Few heads up on high end: Westone 3, Senn IE8, SHure SE530, UE trifi, Image x10, AT ck10~

He'd miss half the fun that way!

 

[DeusInvictus7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by forsberg /img/forum/go_quote.gif He'd miss half the fun that way!

Haha yeah. And plus, I don't think my sister would be willing to pay ~$300+ for earphones.

I mean, I can probably push her to get some SA6's, since those really got me interested, but I would probably have to pay the difference, since she told me she would pay up to $180.

I am still very interested in the UE SF5's and the vi version. EarphoneSolutions has the SF5's for $150, and the vi at $190, so I'm not too sure if that mic/button is worth the $40.

Any thoughts?

 

[forsberg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeusInvictus7 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Haha yeah. And plus, I don't think my sister would be willing to pay ~$300+ for earphones. I mean, I can probably push her to get some SA6's, since those really got me interested, but I would probably have to pay the difference, since she told me she would pay up to $180. I am still very interested in the UE SF5's and the vi version. EarphoneSolutions has the SF5's for $150, and the vi at $190, so I'm not too sure if that mic/button is worth the $40. Any thoughts?

True head-fi'ers do not use any mic button thingamajiggies on their IEMs.

 

[DeusInvictus7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by forsberg /img/forum/go_quote.gif True head-fi'ers do not use any mic button thingamajiggies on their IEMs.

Haha, yeah I would figure that, but I do have to admit, I kind of like that button, even if it is just for the convenience. Oh well, it was never a necessity, since I use my Bose ones just fine, and I only used the headset that came with the iphone for calls when it was just way too loud to hear the other person by just using the phone, since the phone earpiece is super quiet. Like at school, that would be the best example of that I guess.

Hmm. I'm still pretty stuck as far as picking a set to just go with...

 

[forsberg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeusInvictus7 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Haha, yeah I would figure that, but I do have to admit, I kind of like that button, even if it is just for the convenience. Oh well, it was never a necessity, since I use my Bose ones just fine, and I only used the headset that came with the iphone for calls when it was just way too loud to hear the other person by just using the phone, since the phone earpiece is super quiet. Like at school, that would be the best example of that I guess. Hmm. I'm still pretty stuck as far as picking a set to just go with...

Well, your intuition is always ur best one, so go for those UE.

And if you need any more validation:

Best Earphones By Price Range

 

[Mejilan]

For what its worth, I put my reservations aside and ordered my first IEMs today. I've been researching replacements for my broken PX200s for a few days now, and between flipping and flopping between buying another PX200 (my 5th in as many years!? No way!), an ATH-ES5 (crappy cost/benefits ratio), or a AKG K81DJ (waaaaaay too huge and bulky), I was finally convinced to at least give the Senns CX300s over in another message board.

So I spent a few more hours looking into things here, and ultimately decided to order the NuForce NE-7Ms + Comply T400 tips. I've never used an IEM before, and have always hated the feel of the regular earbuds. So I'm concerned about sound quality, fit, and comfort. But isolation is important, and it doesn't seem like any truly viable PX200 competitors in my price-range, with the feature-set I want exists in the portable headphone category. So here I am blindly giving IEMs a shot.

:/

 

[forsberg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mejilan /img/forum/go_quote.gif For what its worth, I put my reservations aside and ordered my first IEMs today. I've been researching replacements for my broken PX200s for a few days now, and between flipping and flopping between buying another PX200 (my 5th in as many years!? No way!), an ATH-ES5 (crappy cost/benefits ratio), or a AKG K81DJ (waaaaaay too huge and bulky), I was finally convinced to at least give the Senns CX300s over in another message board. So I spent a few more hours looking into things here, and ultimately decided to order the NuForce NE-7Ms + Comply T400 tips. I've never used an IEM before, and have always hated the feel of the regular earbuds. So I'm concerned about sound quality, fit, and comfort. But isolation is important, and it doesn't seem like any truly viable PX200 competitors in my price-range, with the feature-set I want exists in the portable headphone category. So here I am blindly giving IEMs a shot. :/

Cool. Congrats on your purchase. Just make sure that it takes about a good week or two for you to get the hang of making a good seal.

 

[Mejilan]

I'm a bit leery about the whole thing, particularly given my aversion to regular earbuds, but I did plan on giving it at least a couple of days to get used to them.

Oddly enough, I was never a big audio buff before I impulse-purchased my first iPod 5 years ago. I had a walkman, and never used it. I had a discman, and rarely touched that. But now, a few days into an iPod-less existence (no backup 'phones around that I'd actually be willing to use), and I feel like I'm suffering from withdrawal. I loved those PX200s too, but they just keep on breaking, and always in the same place. Crappy wiring by the headphone jack...