[Youngblood]

Hello, my name is Cody. I'm in the market for a new set of IEMs because my old image s4s broke. anyways, I need something thats portable, and has the best sound quality for the price. these will be purchased over Christmas time and there really isn't a price range, but lets keep it under $700, the less they are the more likely I will buy them.
    I had bought a pair of Sennheiser hd555 headphones but there for home use, so I need something that sounds at least as good as them. I don't care how much bass/treble they have, my Sony Walkman can equalize them. Also if you guys want to you can suggest an amp/IEM combo, I have no amp as of now though. All suggestions are appreciated, thank you and have a great day!

 

[Hyl]

what kind of music do you listen to and how do you like your sound?
Like warm, dark, analytical, the soundstage, treble, isolation, the size of the amp, etc.

 

[Youngblood]

I listen to mostly rock/metal. I like my 555s soundstage so anything similar will be great, I like my sound to have a lot of clarity in my music, I'm not particularly a bass head and like I said in my first post, I will be EQing them to my prefrence anyways.

 

[kayser]

The EQ tends to bring distorsion into the sound, so I don't know if it's neccessary to buy some expensive earphones in this case. Anyway, I'd choose something neutral like Westone UM3x, to customize then the sound signature according to your preferences.

 

[Youngblood]

Oh, I didn't know that, I use a Sony Walkman and the only EQ I'll probably use is the clear bass. 1 or 2 notches wont hurt will it? I mean distortion wise? Thanks for the recomendation, they look real good, any other IEMs you know of?

 

[paulypaul]

ive been using clearbass & EQ on my walkman for ages and have had no issues with SQ (not to my ears anyway).
I am a believer in EQing till i get the sound i like.
Sometimes my clearbass is on 3, but mostly 2.

 

[jasonb]

my last IEM's were also the Klipsch S4's. my current ones are the Brainwavz M2's. one listen to the M2's was enough for me to return the S4's back to best buy where they came from . i've been enjoying the M2's ever since. i would be happy with them even if they were double the price.
 
if you're budget is $700, then you can probably do better though. just thought i'd comment since you mentioned the S4's being your last earphones.

 

[rawrster]

At that price range you can consider customs unless you want to keep it as a universal earphone rather than something that is made to fit your ear only.

 

[Painful Chafe]

If you want to save yourself $620 the Panasonic RP-HJE900's sound great with metal. They used to cost $250 or so. They have dropped to a rediculously low price at J&R.  I think these things were made for listening to Trivium's Nick Augusto. But if you are willing to spend upwards of $700, I'm sure there are better. Just remember diminishing returns comes into play. At the price they are selling for, give them a shot. They may fulfill your needs.

 

[SpecialJ]

I suggest the Shure SE535s

 

[Youngblood]

After some research on a few forums I really think the UM3X is a good option, anyone else heard them? I figure since there not to high up in price I could buy an amp to but if you guys don't think I need one than I'll just save some money (haha). I think the $400-$500 range is good, unless theres something cheaper that surpasses the UM3X.

 

[Hyl]

The earsonics sm3 might also be a good choice for you. I have only received mine a few minutes ago, so i can't comment on the sound yet, but some people say that it's better than the um3x.

 

[Vegeta55555]

customs: JH5-JH7 (399-699$)  or Westone AC2 (399$) 

 

[Youngblood]

I'll read some reviews and try to make a good choice, its still a long time before I make my decision. Thanks everyone for the help