[qspeedss]

Hi. Im brand new to Head Fi.
came across this awesome website while researching the Shure SE530PTH.

I have a couple of questions; all answers are appreciated.

1. I bought a pair of Shure SE530PTH tonight for $320 including 2 day shipping. (Got a little anxious because there were only 10 purchases avaliable 2 days ago. As of 9:00 eastern time today, one 1 was left.) Im not too sure that he is a authorized dealer. He offered a squaretrade warrenty. Its $35 for about 2-3 years or something. Has anyone used squaretrade?

2. MY MAIN QUESTION How does the Shure SE530 sound unamped?
I will be using a 5th generation ipod 30 gig or a iPhone(advice on this?). I'm a student, and I will use these earphones on the bus every morning and every single night to take off the stress. I really need a portable . Pocketable?(would be very nice

)
Thing im worried about is HISS. I want minimum hiss. If i need an amp for this, can i get some recommendations? Ive been looking at the Headroom Total Airhead and the pico amps?

Ive heard of a device that you plug into the dock of the ipod, which turns the dock into a line out. Ive heard it makes the audio quality better, therefore making the hiss dissappear?

P.S. I encode all of my music with AAC 320 kbps; as my current earphones are Etymotic ER-6i (which I am in the process of selling) and Shure E4c (which I am in the process of shipping. Sold for $150 plus shipping on ebay).

THANK YOU EVERYONE who helps me out. I really need some help with this stuff. I thought that portable audio stopped at ipod and earphones. Never head anything about amps, ETC.

 

[kippyy]

The SE 530 sounds great with no amp...very low resistance...there is ongoing debate as to whether amping really changes the sound....
I hear no hiss with my setup, but some have complained of this because IEM;s are so sensitive.
I have a Pico coming soon, mostly to use with other headphones. To use an amp, you can check out skylab's great review of portable amps, and purchase a line-out dock interconnect as a go-between the iPhone and amp. Lots of pics in the amp threads. Audio Line out and Qables make ipHone specific interconnects. Be careful, as typical iPod cables dont fit the iPhone.
Good luck!

 

[qspeedss]

Ah thank you for such a quick answer.

So you dont hear any hissing? I would REALLY love to just bring my ipod around with the se530 and just jam out without any amp.
Also, Do you know how I should break in my earphones? Should i break them in by using like i would normally use my old earphones? Or should I leave them playing overnights? Any specific volume i should use?

thanks

 

[JwY]

If you do find hiss, a cheap method to get rid of it is to use an impedance adapter to make them less sensitive.

As for break-in, companies say that balanced armatures (these) don't really break-in like dynamics. So could probably just use them as normal.

 

[outbreak123]

Some people say they find hiss, some don't. YMMV

 

[grenert]

Regarding hiss, the SE530 is very sensitive, meaning that it takes very little electrical energy for it to make sound. As a result, and the fact that external noise is blocked out (noise can mask hiss), it is pretty common for people to hear hiss with those earphones. It really does depend on what you have them plugged into. I don't know how they will sound with your specific iPod, but I think the SE530 still comes with a short cable with an attenuator (like a volume control). Definitely if you use that, you can increase the resistance of the earphones and get rid of any hiss.

 

[qspeedss]

Im not too sure how the impedance attenuator works. I have seen pictures of them but i dont know how they fit into the picture? Where does it plug into??

What is the varying factor when talking about hiss feedback? I mean the earphones stay the same, which act as the constant. Is the music player the thing that is causing the range of results? the encoding?

To skip a lot of typing for you awesome forum members, can you guys give me some links to where I can learn the basics of audio? Anything you can give me, from what the specs of earphones mean to what amps are popular. That'd be great. Thanks

 

[Assorted]

I have a wide range of MP3 players; as far as I've experimented, encoding affects the hiss the least when using ultra-sensitive IEMs. It's entirely dependent on the source -- the music player -- itself. Almost all MP3 players will hiss with the SE530, if running it unaltered (no attenuator/adapter).

If you want to find what amps are popular, it's easier to just browse the first page of the Amp forum to get a general idea. For example if you're looking for a portable amp, you'll notice on the first page that there is a huge HeadAmp pico pre-order thread.

 

[ch28kid]

My iPhone with SE530 makes this hissing sound.
My iPod Nano 1G and iRiver clix does not have any hissing sound.

I only hear hiss when there is no music.

You got a pretty good deal for the SE530PTH version.

 

[qspeedss]

yeap. I sure did. Anyone interested can go th ebay.com and search for the-deal-spot as a user. He has alot for sale as a buy it now deal. His feedback is 99.9% and he has like 12000 feedback. Pretty legit to me.

By the way, Im not too sure that advertising that was allowed, but i heard a lot of people advertising headroom. If its not allowed, just tell me and i'll delete it.

anyone know what headroom's price for the se530s are?