[cogit0]

Hello all! I'm completely new here, luckily finding it on a search for new headphones; my apologies if this question has a really obvious answer.

After reading the multitude of reviews here on the various earbuds and IEMs (my preferred style for my 4G iPod), I decided to get the Creative EP-630s. I wanted a more full bass than what I was getting with my previous set, while the isolation was a plus. I'm still trying to get into the higher quality phones but am a cheap person, so figured the EP630s were a good way to break in.

I received them last week from newegg.com, and tried them on as soon as I got them. I put them in what I believed to be the correct way, in the ear canal and whatnot, and heard a very nice clear bass.
The problem: everything but the bass sounds like crap.
The highs are nice and fairly crisp, but i'm hearing some flaking in there, much like when there's something loose flapping around. Mids are very tinny, almost missing.

I tried a test song ("The Wheat", theme from The Gladiator, nice test song w/ broad spectrum, mp3 VBR -2 (180-220)) on my other headphones.

Denon AH-D550: Great pair, well worn. Couldn't hear the flaky-ness that I was hearing with the EP630s.

Sony MDR-ED21LP (these were the ones being replaced): decent set of earbuds, highly worn with 1000s of hours of play time on them. Don't have the base response that the creatives have, but was not having the same issues with the highs and mids.

The problem persists with almost every song I have tested with, using a variety of genres and encoding strategies.
I have tried burning them in, with somewhere around 20-30 hours of playtime on them so far, with no improvement.

So it seems like it is an issue with the EP-630s. My question is whether other people have experienced a similar issue, or is it just this set? I'm pretty sure i'm wearing them right since I'm getting good bass, but could improper wearing of an IEM kill the uppers and mids too?

Should I try to get a replacement of the same model, or say screw it? I'm thinking of the JVM marshmallows as an alternative. Thoughts?

Thanks for any help/advice!

 

[kyleisgreat]

that doesn't sound normal. Send them back, get a new pair.

 

[ChaseD13]

do you have an equalizer on? ep630s dont really have mids, but it shouldnt be that bad.

 

[Kabeer]

Get the Shure e530

hehehe.

Nah, well the ep630 has a big bass slam, and the rest of the spectrum is nothing to write home about. Its possible thats its not faulty but you are just recognising the limitations of the ep630.

But your slating is a bit over the top....especially since you havent heard any high end IEMs (people who I know have tried the ep630 moving on from crappy stock supplied earphones think they are the dogs ******, if you didnt understand that it means good

). So go back to the store and tell them its faulty.

 

[cogit0]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChaseD13 /img/forum/go_quote.gif do you have an equalizer on? ep630s dont really have mids, but it shouldnt be that bad.

All my testing was done with no equalizer on, but I played with a few eq profiles to see if that helped at all. It didn't.

I'm leaning towards returning them right now. How do they stack up against the JVC fx33s though? better? worse? what are the differences?

 

[iG012]

how can i differentiate a fake ep-630 from an original one?

 

[cogit0]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iG012 /img/forum/go_quote.gif how can i differentiate a fake ep-630 from an original one?

In my various searching, I came across this post on the Creative forums:
http://forums.creative.com/creativel...sage.id=108226
Briefly, it has to have the "A" logo on the back, although this could be replicated just as easily as any other logo. Beyond that, just buy from a reputable dealer. Ebay is flooded with fakes, so as good as those deals seem, don't go for them.