[DefQon]

Quote:

 
I don't suppose you accepted the trade?
 
Wow, you got the SE500s back in high school? You must've taken this hobby pretty seriously. Still, it sucks that someone thought to pocket them. I guess that's the one downside of showing off your gear in public, particularly when it's something as compact as an IEM. 
 
Since you've owned both CIEMs and universal-fits, would you say that customs are a significant improvement over universals, with the same configurations (as if both having the same number and type of drivers), enough to justify the price gap?
 
P.S.
You went straight for the UE18s? Hmm, that's a bit daring. As of now, what's the best pair of IEMs you've had? 

Yeah back then in high school for me the addiction was them PMP's (Portable Media Players) use to be obsessed with purchasing the latest portable media player like the Archos and Thomson video players with a 60GB hard drive or so and watching HD movies and listening to lossless music files on it and also at the same time having the best IEM's to go with it. 
 
I sold off the EX700 long time ago because I found the highs too harsh and bit to bright, funny thing a year later I find a thread here of certain EX700 owners finding there EX700's high's too harsh as well.
 
Now with the CIEM vs IEM debate, there's quite some threads here and has been discussed before. But to me, if you had a CIEM with 3 drivers that cost $500, and a universal with 3 drivers that cost $300, is it worth it and does it justify the cost? No. That extra $200 won't warrant anything more then a low percentage of sound quality increase possibly max 20%. But what your paying for a CIEM is that it isolates better, designed and molded just for your ears, the best isolating universal IEM will never match the isolation of a CIEM, there is no chance unless you use custom eartip molds but that would be cheating. But once you start to move up the chain of CIEM's moving from $400-500 CIEM's to $1k+ CIEM's, things start to sound more different, there will be more definition, clarity, depth, emotion surrounding you and your music because the reference will be so close of what you actually hear to the actual recording of the music itself. Of course having more driver's doesn't necessarily mean a better earphone, but depends on how experienced the manufacture is, how they tune and configure the driver will well determine how it will sound in the end.
 
But once you start paying for flagship CIEM's like the JH13/16, UE Reference, ES5, UE18 and other high end 4+ driver solutions, the sound is just so much better then the best universal IEM. To some people, they say the EX1000 is the closest universal to rival against the UM Merlin which for money is pretty good, sound is pretty close to a flagship but is just nowhere near one yet alot less refined, crisp and detail, but when I had my EX1000's thinking it would be a improvement over the EX700, I was wrong. Very wrong, it still retained the bright end which I can't stand and the EX1000's didn't last more then 1 day in my hands, eventually returned it.
 
I guess the most high end universal IEM I've owned is probably the EX1000 which I didn't really enjoy, but if your talking about the best sound out of a universal IEM that I've heard it's probably the W4's followed by the UM3X which I find a huge improvement over the IE8 and IE80. I seriously don't know what the hype about the IE8 is all about, I've auditioned one not long ago and it just sounds like a little more refined, eq'd IE80 and a lot others will agree with me on this, while half the others won't. 
 
If it's the best universal IEM I own now, it would be my well burnt-in IE8's with a custom Galaxy silver cable (thanks lee). I've been investing my funds into headphones now more so then IEM's over the recent year or too.
 
As for the best sound I've ever heard out of an IEM including CIEM's it would be hands down "from memory and my ears" my old UE18's. My current ES5's (think I've posted a picture of my portable setup before in the portable thread) would definitely give my UE18's a run for its money, but in the end, the UE18 is more upfront in your face, crisp and lush, absolutely jawdropping treble and mids, makes the most annoying voice sound like wonderful vocals and the bass is like, if a guitarist was playing, I would be able to hear the bass vibration from every string he plucks. I guess I will probably the UE18 to my next to purchase list.
 
 
 

 

[ProjectDenz]

^I agree with the above statement. My JH13's are just on another level to any universal I have ever heard. It feels like they fix all the deficiencies and sonic issues I've had with every iem I have ever owned.

 

[DarkSleip]

Quote:

Yeah back then in high school for me the addiction was them PMP's (Portable Media Players) use to be obsessed with purchasing the latest portable media player like the Archos and Thomson video players with a 60GB hard drive or so and watching HD movies and listening to lossless music files on it and also at the same time having the best IEM's to go with it. 
 
I sold off the EX700 long time ago because I found the highs too harsh and bit to bright, funny thing a year later I find a thread here of certain EX700 owners finding there EX700's high's too harsh as well.
 
Now with the CIEM vs IEM debate, there's quite some threads here and has been discussed before. But to me, if you had a CIEM with 3 drivers that cost $500, and a universal with 3 drivers that cost $300, is it worth it and does it justify the cost? No. That extra $200 won't warrant anything more then a low percentage of sound quality increase possibly max 20%. But what your paying for a CIEM is that it isolates better, designed and molded just for your ears, the best isolating universal IEM will never match the isolation of a CIEM, there is no chance unless you use custom eartip molds but that would be cheating. But once you start to move up the chain of CIEM's moving from $400-500 CIEM's to $1k+ CIEM's, things start to sound more different, there will be more definition, clarity, depth, emotion surrounding you and your music because the reference will be so close of what you actually hear to the actual recording of the music itself. Of course having more driver's doesn't necessarily mean a better earphone, but depends on how experienced the manufacture is, how they tune and configure the driver will well determine how it will sound in the end.
 
But once you start paying for flagship CIEM's like the JH13/16, UE Reference, ES5, UE18 and other high end 4+ driver solutions, the sound is just so much better then the best universal IEM. To some people, they say the EX1000 is the closest universal to rival against the UM Miracles which for money is pretty good, sound is pretty close to a flagship but is just nowhere near one yet, but when I had my EX1000's thinking it would be a improvement over the EX700, I was wrong. Very wrong, it still retained the bright end which I can't stand and the EX1000's didn't last more then 1 day in my hands, eventually returned it.
 
I guess the most high end universal IEM I've owned is probably the EX1000 which I didn't really enjoy, but if your talking about the best sound out of a universal IEM that I've heard it's probably the W4's followed by the UM3X which I find a huge improvement over the IE8 and IE80. I seriously don't know what the hype about the IE8 is all about, I've auditioned one not long ago and it just sounds like a little more refined, eq'd IE80 and a lot others will agree with me on this, while half the others won't. 
 
If it's the best universal IEM I own now, it would be my well burnt-in IE8's with a custom Galaxy silver cable (thanks lee). I've been investing my funds into headphones now more so then IEM's over the recent year or too.
 
As for the best sound I've ever heard out of an IEM including CIEM's it would be hands down "from memory and my ears" my old UE18's. My current ES5's (think I've posted a picture of my portable setup before in the portable thread) would definitely give my UE18's a run for its money, but in the end, the UE18 is more upfront in your face, crisp and lush, absolutely jawdropping treble and mids, makes the most annoying voice sound like wonderful vocals and the bass is like, if a guitarist was playing, I would be able to hear the bass vibration from every string he plucks. I guess I will probably the UE18 to my next to purchase list.
 
 
 

Just wondering what you rally mean^

 

[DefQon]

Quote:

Just wondering what you rally mean^

I actually was supposed to refer to the Merlin not the Miracles. Need to fix my post. But what I meant was that from review's or so here, the Merlin is like a less refined Miracles, which is the flagship IEM out of the Unique Melody offerings.

 

[ImperialX]

Quote:

Well I have 11 headphones and about 16 or so working IEM's, so since we are talking about headphones, I'm perfectly normal then........

I have 14 Apple earbuds that I got from buying iPods, iPhones and iPads.

 

[veyrongatti]

Quote:

I have 14 Apple earbuds that I got from buying iPods, iPhones and iPads.

they have ibud with ipads? i only have 3 ibuds......

 

[macrocheesium]

 
Quote:

I have 14 Apple earbuds that I got from buying iPods, iPhones and iPads.

You have 14 Apple products? That sounds more expensive than headphones.

 

[Melvins]

maybe he bought them for family/friends/ect

 

[Nightowl217]

Well, that was fun. Yesterday I let this guy I know try my new Turbines, and he listens to them for 20-30 minutes through his laptop, and when he takes them out, all he has to say is 'sounds a lot like i'm listening to speakers.' I told him the price, and he said 'not bad, I just might get some.' To say the least, I was very happy when he said that. Heh, it was funny at first, when I told him they were made by Monster, he cracked up saying 'overpriced cable and ****ty beats, yuck.' I think he may be a closet audiophile. I'll have to bring more headphones around for him to try.

 

[zaodriver]

Hello everyone. I figured since this is the non-audiophile post (and this will be my first post), I will tell you guys my story in how I got into audio. I consider myself an audiophile now because I have only been dreaming about getting a good audio setup for a long time. It all began back in late 2004/early 2005 when my junior-year college roommate Brian D. decided to get some headphones for his system. I had been using some ancient Koss TD-60s and some random on-ear cheap headphones by Sony since I was a child. He found a thread on Head-Fi about the Grado-SR60s vs the Sennheiser HD-497. At the time, they were both within the same price range and both were winning bang-for-the-buck awards on various sites. I did absolutely no research myself. Both headphones arrived at nearly the same time and we compared. He ordered the Senns, I ordered the Grados. I thought my new Grados absolutely killed my old Koss headphones on my system, which was a stock Dell computer headphone jack. He also bought an Onkyo amp/receiver to build a 5.1 setup from Polk bookshelf speakers and a 12 inch subwoofer (sorry, I can't remember the brand name). I was was shocked and terrified at how much better our headphones sounded through the Onkyo Vs my computer. That was where I caught the bug. Then again, my father had a decent stereo system while I was growing up and I noted early on how other people's stereo systems sounded. I have stereo-related and headphone related memories since I was, maybe 4 years old. Audiophile since birth? You be the judge.
 
Fast forward to today (4/17/2012), I have since bought Grado 225s back in late 2010 to replace the dying SR60s due to wear and tear. I have been using ghetto means to come close to achieving the sound that I remembered from that Onkyo amp/receiver. Yesterday, my Schiit Asgard arrived in the mail at my work. I popped in the Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger cd. It isn't my favorite cd and I hadn't listened to it in a very long time. I just completely lost an hour of the day to listening. I zoned out of work and completely into the music, hearing details I never heard before. Everything was finally crisp and clear again. Then I began to note a slight lack of bass and a hint of sterility. I figured this was due to the stock work computer (again, another stock Dell). I listened to a couple more CDs for an additional 2hours. I got home, plugged the amp into my system, which is a custom computer with a Creative X-Fi Fatality sound card circa 2007. The bass returned in force and I had to turn down/off EQ settings on the sound card that boosted bass and the crystalizer function, since I was previously using its line-out as my headphone jack (I know, but I had to make due). When I get home today, I am installing Foobar 2000 with the Wasabi add-on. I figure that will kick up the quality by a hair. Hopefully, I will convert others.
 
Thanks Head-Fiers for good reads, good advice, and making music sound better.

 

[jtaylor991]

Welcome to Head-Fi, sorry for your wallet
 
Quote:

Hello everyone. I figured since this is the non-audiophile post (and this will be my first post), I will tell you guys my story in how I got into audio. I consider myself an audiophile now because I have only been dreaming about getting a good audio setup for a long time. It all began back in late 2004/early 2005 when my junior-year college roommate Brian D. decided to get some headphones for his system. I had been using some ancient Koss TD-60s and some random on-ear cheap headphones by Sony since I was a child. He found a thread on Head-Fi about the Grado-SR60s vs the Sennheiser HD-497. At the time, they were both within the same price range and both were winning bang-for-the-buck awards on various sites. I did absolutely no research myself. Both headphones arrived at nearly the same time and we compared. He ordered the Senns, I ordered the Grados. I thought my new Grados absolutely killed my old Koss headphones on my system, which was a stock Dell computer headphone jack. He also bought an Onkyo amp/receiver to build a 5.1 setup from Polk bookshelf speakers and a 12 inch subwoofer (sorry, I can't remember the brand name). I was was shocked and terrified at how much better our headphones sounded through the Onkyo Vs my computer. That was where I caught the bug. Then again, my father had a decent stereo system while I was growing up and I noted early on how other people's stereo systems sounded. I have stereo-related and headphone related memories since I was, maybe 4 years old. Audiophile since birth? You be the judge.
 
Fast forward to today (4/17/2012), I have since bought Grado 225s back in late 2010 to replace the dying SR60s due to wear and tear. I have been using ghetto means to come close to achieving the sound that I remembered from that Onkyo amp/receiver. Yesterday, my Schiit Asgard arrived in the mail at my work. I popped in the Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger cd. It isn't my favorite cd and I hadn't listened to it in a very long time. I just completely lost an hour of the day to listening. I zoned out of work and completely into the music, hearing details I never heard before. Everything was finally crisp and clear again. Then I began to note a slight lack of bass and a hint of sterility. I figured this was due to the stock work computer (again, another stock Dell). I listened to a couple more CDs for an additional 2hours. I got home, plugged the amp into my system, which is a custom computer with a Creative X-Fi Fatality sound card circa 2007. The bass returned in force and I had to turn down/off EQ settings on the sound card that boosted bass and the crystalizer function, since I was previously using its line-out as my headphone jack (I know, but I had to make due). When I get home today, I am installing Foobar 2000 with the Wasabi add-on. I figure that will kick up the quality by a hair. Hopefully, I will convert others.
 
Thanks Head-Fiers for good reads, good advice, and making music sound better.

 

 

[wilky61]

$120 for the AKG Q701s (had some Amazon credit) and $140 for the FiiO E17. I doubt I'll purchase anything else for a longgggg time (that's why I jumped straight to the Q701s). I just had to spoil myself with something nice after my first paycheck with my new job arrived, though.
 
They arrived with 20 hours of burn-in, I ran them for two days straight in a desk drawer, and I have just been using them normally ever since. They are probably approaching 100 hours of use. I think I detected the biggest sound difference when I got home on day two of the continuous burn-in (at approx. 60 hours). The bass had definitely gained some impact.
 
At first I was skeptical about the amp/DAC because I'd spent more on it than on the headphones, so I did some A/B testing... Yeah, my laptop's sound card isn't really up to the task of resolving all the chaos contained within a song such as "Moanin" by Mingus.
 
Quote:

hows your wallet going?

Quote:

Also, it's kinda cool that you jumped straight to the Q701s. The thing is though, those are the kind of cans that need a few hundred hours of burn-in before they sound their best. If you think they're awesome now, check in with yourself in about half a year and compare notes XD

Lucky that you got cans that agree with your taste in music, by the way. When you get that high up the upgrade ladder, spending that much money on headphones with a sound sig that doesn't match your music preferences is pretty much the worst thing that can happen to a newbie audiophile.
 
P.S.
If no one's said it yet:
Welcome to Head-Fi, and sorry about your wallet. 
 
 
... I've always wanted to say that

 

 

[doggybags]

My mom. "Something's wrong. I hear two different sounds."

 

[DarkSleip]

Quote:

Hello everyone. I figured since this is the non-audiophile post (and this will be my first post), I will tell you guys my story in how I got into audio. I consider myself an audiophile now because I have only been dreaming about getting a good audio setup for a long time. It all began back in late 2004/early 2005 when my junior-year college roommate Brian D. decided to get some headphones for his system. I had been using some ancient Koss TD-60s and some random on-ear cheap headphones by Sony since I was a child. He found a thread on Head-Fi about the Grado-SR60s vs the Sennheiser HD-497. At the time, they were both within the same price range and both were winning bang-for-the-buck awards on various sites. I did absolutely no research myself. Both headphones arrived at nearly the same time and we compared. He ordered the Senns, I ordered the Grados. I thought my new Grados absolutely killed my old Koss headphones on my system, which was a stock Dell computer headphone jack. He also bought an Onkyo amp/receiver to build a 5.1 setup from Polk bookshelf speakers and a 12 inch subwoofer (sorry, I can't remember the brand name). I was was shocked and terrified at how much better our headphones sounded through the Onkyo Vs my computer. That was where I caught the bug. Then again, my father had a decent stereo system while I was growing up and I noted early on how other people's stereo systems sounded. I have stereo-related and headphone related memories since I was, maybe 4 years old. Audiophile since birth? You be the judge.
 
Fast forward to today (4/17/2012), I have since bought Grado 225s back in late 2010 to replace the dying SR60s due to wear and tear. I have been using ghetto means to come close to achieving the sound that I remembered from that Onkyo amp/receiver. Yesterday, my Schiit Asgard arrived in the mail at my work. I popped in the Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger cd. It isn't my favorite cd and I hadn't listened to it in a very long time. I just completely lost an hour of the day to listening. I zoned out of work and completely into the music, hearing details I never heard before. Everything was finally crisp and clear again. Then I began to note a slight lack of bass and a hint of sterility. I figured this was due to the stock work computer (again, another stock Dell). I listened to a couple more CDs for an additional 2hours. I got home, plugged the amp into my system, which is a custom computer with a Creative X-Fi Fatality sound card circa 2007. The bass returned in force and I had to turn down/off EQ settings on the sound card that boosted bass and the crystalizer function, since I was previously using its line-out as my headphone jack (I know, but I had to make due). When I get home today, I am installing Foobar 2000 with the Wasabi add-on. I figure that will kick up the quality by a hair. Hopefully, I will convert others.
 
Thanks Head-Fiers for good reads, good advice, and making music sound better.

You may save your wallet by becoming an objectivist, but it's just a suggestion, do what you want with your music

 

[Leckel1996]

I have my rockboxed clip zip rubber banded to my fiio e11 that is powering my Shure 440's. I go to a school where literally everyone has beats. I get a lot of weird looks asking me what the crappy mp3 player thing I'm listening to is. I have given a few people a test run and all but a few thought it was nothing special. Only two kids that are in my choir were extremely impressed with the headphones, and another fellow audiophile of course.

It's also crazy to think that my entire setup costs about a fourth of their beats with either an iPod or iPhone. I'm so thankful to have a father who is an aware and smart consumer. My view on society went down the toilet when I realized how many people were paying so much for their beats, which aren't even good headphones.