[thornygravy]

Hey guys, I'm in the market for a new iem. preferably $50 and under but I'll go to $100 if I have to. I listen to a lot of black metal, death metal.. stuff under the dark metal spectrum.

I heard great things about the RE2 so I picked em up.. They have great mids and highs but.. the bass just isn't enough for me (will be selling them soon.)

I bought some skull candy ink'd iems because I needed more than $25 at radioshack to get free shipping. Being skull candy I wasn't expecting much but they're great.. the sound is what I'm looking for, very dark, and great bass. I want something with a bit better quality though, they don't justify my amp or source.

I was on amazon and stumbled upon the Denon AH-C551K.. Read the reviews and they all say "fantastic bass" or something like that.. What do you guys think of this phone?

I get a lot of hiss with my ink'd buds, they're 16oHm, so are the denons I mentioned, so I'm wondering If I should get a iem with a higher impedance.

I'm open to other suggestions of course.. Thanks.

 

[gameboy115]

please search thread for Nuforce NE-7M, around $60, very good bass and detail, it is clamined as best iem between $0-&150, except PFE which is best for vocal not bass

 

[dweaver]

X2 for NE-7M, don't worry about it's mic and button, it will still work even though your not using those features.

 

[thornygravy]

Cool, any other recommendations? Maybe something with a higher impedance?

 

[8xOverMsOctober]

The NE-7Ms aren't dark IMO, though they are great.

I found the Z.buds to be really dark (too dark for my tastes), and a little higher impedance @ 32 ohms.

Other than that I can't really recommend anything because I haven't really listened to much else, but if you can go up to about $100 then you should check out the Turbine thread.

 

[blacknile]

You can safely ignore the Denons. I own them and, while the bass is there tight and deep, mids are very recessed and highs are just average, nothing special.
Compared with say my Etymotic 6i on the same track, the Denons deliver waay less detail and all the mid to high frequencies will sound somehow compressed and distant, as if all the musicians are playing far away and only the bass player is near to you. I can't quite describe the feeling but I can assure you there's something disappointing about them.

 

[ChroniCali]

I'd give another plugin for the NE7Ms.

 

[kobayashi]

Also look at the Turbines in that price range.

 

[Freddie_shreddie]

Are you for real on the skullcandy?
I don't think i've heard anything worse.

 

[rock&rollfrenchfries]

theres worse... like the koss earbuds at radio shack that stick out like frankenstein bolts. they are the epitome of booming muddiness.

 

[bixby]

I tried lots of what has been rec'd here. I have yet to find a $50 iem that performs as well as I would like. My filtered view of what I have read leads me to feel the Bijou 3 might do the trick, but I have not listened to it. I have had the Nuforce and RE2s and cannot rec them for you.

If you don't have to have IEMs, the PK3 is a good alternative.

And do let me know what you find for $50 that does blow you skirt up as they say!

 

[average_joe]

IMO the NE-7 is not dark, the PK3 is darker, and you can double up the pads to change the sound sig (make them darker). Or you can use comply tips on the NE-7 to darken it a little.

I haven't heard the JVC Marshmellows are great for the price, better than Skullcandy.

 

[thornygravy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freddie_shreddie /img/forum/go_quote.gif Are you for real on the skullcandy? I don't think i've heard anything worse.

I'm for real, you can ask Drag0n and a couple others who have heard way better gear than me.. for $15 they kick some butt.. of course they're the skullcandy downsides like no Left from Right indication (sharpie mark fixes this,) the bass muddying up the mids a bit, rolled off highs.. but they're not terrible.. I've heard way worse.

I have the JVC Marshmallows and I'd say the ink'd are a step up.. not a big step but I like the bass and highs better. They're both good budget iems though.

I ended up just buying a 3.5mm volume control from radioshack to match impedance. I'm gonna save up a bit more, look for something in the $150-200 in a bit.. Thanks for the help though guys.