[kingdixon]

Hello Everybody,

Iam new to the forums, my name is mohamed and i just need your advice regarding the subject, sorry for opening a new thread if there was one regarding same subject.

I love music so much and i need a good iem under 200$ budget, i love to try alot of earphones but i always try low budgets, so with 200$ iam wondering if there is something so good under this budget or will it be better trying 2 iems under the 200$ budget.

for my history with earphones :

i would start with nokia n82 and n97 earphones, they were too darn cheap but as much i remember they were not that bad LOL

then i got 2 sennheisers

Sennheiser CX 300B MK II Precision :

I didn't like the sound quality of this one , i felt it had weak treble and bass, and gives like cave sound, died in 1 year.

Sennheiser HD 202 II :

This was a OverEar, and i liked its quality so much only its volume is a bit low for me.

Then i used my Apple ipod earphone and it was an average good quality.

Then i got those 3 to try :

Klipsch IMAGE S4 In-Ear Enhanced Bass Noise-Isolating Headphones

I Really hate this one, i felt it is bad quality and no seperation at all, all the sounds seemed to be interfering together, i decided that i will only use it in metal or hard rock then i won't feel how bad it is, and may be iam being hard in reviewing it because mostly reviews said it was awesome and it was too far from that.

JVC HAFX1X Headphone Xtreme-Xplosivs

I think this is the worst earphone in the world.

HiFiMan - RE-ZERO - In-Ear Stereo Headphones

This is by far the best iem i have tried , very pure sounds and the clarity is the best, i can hear all the instruments seperated and every detail , while the bass is not the best also it is not bad at all.

I have Samsungs earphone that comes with note II , they are average but i think they are all around meaning they perform same with every genre, i like this about it they have constant Sound quality.

I also got the sony mw600 bluetooth, i didnt like the included earbuds , but the main device is awesome with other earphones.

i listened to apples new earphones with a friend and i think they perform very nice while i didn't get much time with them, but they appeared to be good, can someone verify this ?

I am not a sound engineer or in anyway professional , all my opinions are what i feel , may be some one thinks iam wrong but anyway.

So what i mostly need is high quality sound and clarity with nice detail seperation, good build quality, i don't know how to express this but i don't like deep swallowed sounds, i like it to be free , i don't care for isolation that much. I listen to almost everything but mainly rock , rap , rnb.

why am i asking this question, because most iems have high ratings and good reviews, so it makes me confused which one to get, specially that i can't access anything but online market.

I have read good reviews for models of shure,vsonic, bose, vmoda, westone and alot others.

One more thing outside of the 200$ budget subject , i need to know the setup that gives you the ultimate sound experience, meaning that i use the earphones either with a mac book pro , or ipod classic , or samsung note 2, so iam wondering is there a certain mp3 device capable of giving more high quality sound , and what about amps, do they really provide a big difference or just a slight different ?

Sorry for making it long, and thanks

 

[warrenpchi]

HI Mohamed, welcome to Head-Fi. 

  Sorry about your wallet. 

 
Quote:

Hello Everybody,

Iam new to the forums, my name is mohamed and i just need your advice regarding the subject, sorry for opening a new thread if there was one regarding same subject.

 
Actually, there is such a thread.  Here's the link:  http://www.head-fi.org/t/596233/buying-portable-or-in-ear-headphones-seeking-guidance-dont-start-a-new-thread-ask-for-advice-here.  You can bookmark that and post in there next time.  Now, let's see if we can answer your questions.
 
Quote:

Hello Everybody,

I love music so much and i need a good iem under 200$ budget, i love to try alot of earphones but i always try low budgets, so with 200$ iam wondering if there is something so good under this budget or will it be better trying 2 iems under the 200$ budget.

 
Generally speaking, performance and quality do improve with price.  Like all things in life, this is not always true.  But as you know from your past history, cheap IEMs just do not sound very good.
 
Quote:

for my history with earphones :

i would start with nokia n82 and n97 earphones, they were too darn cheap but as much i remember they were not that bad LOL

then i got 2 sennheisers

Sennheiser CX 300B MK II Precision :

I didn't like the sound quality of this one , i felt it had weak treble and bass, and gives like cave sound, died in 1 year.

Sennheiser HD 202 II :

This was a OverEar, and i liked its quality so much only its volume is a bit low for me.

Then i used my Apple ipod earphone and it was an average good quality.

Then i got those 3 to try :

Klipsch IMAGE S4 In-Ear Enhanced Bass Noise-Isolating Headphones

I Really hate this one, i felt it is bad quality and no seperation at all, all the sounds seemed to be interfering together, i decided that i will only use it in metal or hard rock then i won't feel how bad it is, and may be iam being hard in reviewing it because mostly reviews said it was awesome and it was too far from that.

JVC HAFX1X Headphone Xtreme-Xplosivs

I think this is the worst earphone in the world.

HiFiMan - RE-ZERO - In-Ear Stereo Headphones

This is by far the best iem i have tried , very pure sounds and the clarity is the best, i can hear all the instruments seperated and every detail , while the bass is not the best also it is not bad at all.

 
LOL @ the JVC HAFX1X! 

  Okay, I'm pretty sure you want the RE-400.  It costs $100.  If you want to move up from that, I'm not sure that you'll be able to find something siginifcantly (proportionately) better for $200.  At the $200 mark, I enjoy my UE700 - but I'm afraid you might consider it too light in terms of bass.  However, if you're willing to move up to $300, I can definitely recommend the Grado GR8.  It is wonderfully balanced with excellent detail and separation.  it even has better-than-average bass than typical single balanced armatures.
 
Those would be my recommendations based on what I've tried and owned.  I'm sure others will have additional recommendations for you.
 
Quote:

One more thing outside of the 200$ budget subject , i need to know the setup that gives you the ultimate sound experience, meaning that i use the earphones either with a mac book pro , or ipod classic , or samsung note 2, so iam wondering is there a certain mp3 device capable of giving more high quality sound , and what about amps, do they really provide a big difference or just a slight different ?

 
The single most important thing you can do is to have good quality files.  If you can, use a lossless file format like FLAC, ALAC, etc.  If that is not convenient, then try high bit rate files (like 320kbit MP3s).  As for devices, that is a MUCH larger topic than you might think.  We should probably save that for a whole new thread in the Portable Source Gear forum (http://www.head-fi.org/f/15/portable-source-gear).
 
Likewise, amps are also a world of their own.

 

[kingdixon]

Quote:

HI Mohamed, welcome to Head-Fi. 

  Sorry about your wallet. 

 
 
Actually, there is such a thread.  Here's the link:  http://www.head-fi.org/t/596233/buying-portable-or-in-ear-headphones-seeking-guidance-dont-start-a-new-thread-ask-for-advice-here.  You can bookmark that and post in there next time.  Now, let's see if we can answer your questions.
 
 
Generally speaking, performance and quality do improve with price.  Like all things in life, this is not always true.  But as you know from your past history, cheap IEMs just do not sound very good.
 
 
LOL @ the JVC HAFX1X! 

  Okay, I'm pretty sure you want the RE-400.  It costs $100.  If you want to move up from that, I'm not sure that you'll be able to find something siginifcantly (proportionately) better for $200.  At the $200 mark, I enjoy my UE700 - but I'm afraid you might consider it too light in terms of bass.  However, if you're willing to move up to $300, I can definitely recommend the Grado GR8.  It is wonderfully balanced with excellent detail and separation.  it even has better-than-average bass than typical single balanced armatures.
 
Those would be my recommendations based on what I've tried and owned.  I'm sure others will have additional recommendations for you.
 
 
The single most important thing you can do is to have good quality files.  If you can, use a lossless file format like FLAC, ALAC, etc.  If that is not convenient, then try high bit rate files (like 320kbit MP3s).  As for devices, that is a MUCH larger topic than you might think.  We should probably save that for a whole new thread in the Portable Source Gear forum (http://www.head-fi.org/f/15/portable-source-gear).
 
Likewise, amps are also a world of their own.

 
Thanks for your reply bro
 
Yeah iam checking the thread, 
 
i have thought of the RE-400 hopefully it will be better in terms of build quality than the RE-ZERO, I also like the reviews for etymotics what do you thing about Etymotic Research ER-4S or the HF5 ? also the vsonic GR-07 BE?
 
 
I was checking ljokerl reviews, the guy is very good at writing you can read 200 reviews, and makes you want to get all of them HAHA
 
Yes i listen to flacs , i will check out the devices and the amps.
 
Thanks again

 

[warrenpchi]

Quote:

 
Thanks for your reply bro
 
Yeah iam checking the thread, 
 
i have thought of the RE-400 hopefully it will be better in terms of build quality than the RE-ZERO, I also like the reviews for etymotics what do you thing about Etymotic Research ER-4S or the HF5 ?
 

 
You're welcome!  Yeah, the guy is crazy, but in a good way.  Wish we had more members like him and ClieOS.  OH, be sure to visit ClieOS's thread (http://www.head-fi.org/t/541204/concise-multi-iem-comparison-vsonic-gr01-gr02-bass-gr06-gr99-added-april-24th-2012), which also has a lot of IEMs.
 
Quote:

 
I also like the reviews for etymotics what do you thing about Etymotic Research ER-4S or the HF5 ?  

 
Honestly, I haven't heard them.  I'll be getting an ER-4PT soon, but I don't have it yet.  Still my general understanding is that they're mid-centric... and that's not a signature for everybody.
 
Quote:

 
I was checking ljokerl reviews, the guy is very good at writing you can read 200 reviews, and makes you want to get all of them HAHA

 
I know!  I'll bet he gets a little sick of them though. 

 
Quote:

 
Yes i listen to flacs , i will check out the devices and the amps.
 
Thanks again

 
Awesome, and you're welcome!