[Dachink]

gonna be getting some C700s for my Zune 80gig soon. How big of an upgrade would these be coming from JBL 220s?

 

[neoufo51]

I'm already liking these over my old Atrio's and its only been less than 50 hours of burn-in time with pink noise. I'm gonna have to start burning them in overnight every night this week. I can already say that the fullness of these C700's is making me forget I ever owned the Atrios. Case in point: I can clearly hear the clash of the cymbals in a lot of Pixies songs while still getting some tight, deep bass, while on my Atrios the chunkier bass would make it harder to hear them in the first place. Once I get these really burned in, I'll have to post an official comparison, but I'm liking where this is going so far!

 

[shigzeo]

i prefer the atrios but what the denon have that as far as i know that no other canalphone or dynammic iem hase is the very hard inner dome. the outside is alumium we know but the inside must be something similar as they sound resonates very well and fast from within. i love it. however, i find the bass to be far inferior for my tastes. the denon are excellent however - just not my cup of tea

 

[tstarn06]

x2. I felt the same way (and sold my Denons). They are excellent phones, but my taste is more towards the Atrios.

 

[neoufo51]

Why more towards the Atrios?

I find that the fullness of the Denons far exceeds the Atrios. They just seem to go the extra distance for me. The bass is almost at the Atrios level while allowing me to hear details that were overshadowed by hard hitting bass. That to me is a great advantage, especially if you listening to music that is more melodic than most. It retains a warm, rich sound while still being detailed.

The main reason I've enjoyed the Denons is this: With the Atrios, I found my Samsung P2 lacking as a source. It was great but still not as lively as I thought it could have been. I was thinking of selling it and buying a Sony player which I heard in a store but the limited featureset of the Sony players kept me away. A few weeks later, my Atrios faltered, and the sound was almost completely gone in one IEM. I bought the Denons after reading this entire thread and after burning them in for 60 hours or so now, listening to them after 50 hours, I'm enjoying my music even moreso than before. I've actually cared less about getting the Sony player because of the range of these little guys. That's how I know these are better than my Atrios, because the exact same music from the exact same source sounds markedly better than with my late Atrios and I've appreciated my initial purchase of the P2 even moreso. Thank goodness I bought these when they were at $99 on Amazon.

 

[epithetless]

Quote:

Originally Posted by neoufo51 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Why more towards the Atrios?

For me, it's the added harshness of the Denons with LAME-v2-encoded source material that drops them below my Atrios in terms of listening enjoyment. A hint of excessive sibilance that few others seem to detect with their C700s is clearly -- and unpleasantly -- discernible with mine. While I do agree that their top-end sparkle surpasses that of the Atrios, this sibilance is enough to act as little jabs in the ear distracting me from the music. The Atrios, on the other hand, are immaculately smooth with the warmth and well-rounded bass my ears tend to prefer. While not as overtly dazzling in the high-end, they provide a more seductive and immersive listening experience.

Keep in mind that I still highly value my C700s and have no intention of disposing of them anytime soon; they are, in fact, the best canalphones (vs. Atrio-esque IEMs) I've ever used, and these comments should be read as a comparison between two earphones I greatly enjoy -- not as an absolute slam against the C700s.

 

[neoufo51]

Quote:

Originally Posted by epithetless /img/forum/go_quote.gif For me, it's the added harshness of the Denons with LAME-v2-encoded source material that drops them below my Atrios in terms of listening enjoyment. A hint of excessive sibilance that few others seem to detect with their C700s is clearly -- and unpleasantly -- discernible with mine. While I do agree that their top-end sparkle surpasses that of the Atrios, this sibilance is enough to act as little jabs in the ear distracting me from the music. The Atrios, on the other hand, are immaculately smooth with the warmth and well-rounded bass my ears tend to prefer. While not as overtly dazzling in the high-end, they provide a more seductive and immersive listening experience. Keep in mind that I still highly value my C700s and have no intention of disposing of them anytime soon; they are, in fact, the best canalphones (vs. Atrio-esque IEMs) I've ever used, and these comments should be read as a comparison between two earphones I greatly enjoy -- not as an absolute slam against the C700s.

How much of a burn-in period have you had with pink noise? I heard them out of the box and they do have a bit of a harshness to them but after 50 hours of it, they smoothed down quite a bit. I'm going to try and give them a fair chance and get to 200 hours before I give my final say on them.

 

[Rickio]

Quote:

Originally Posted by epithetless /img/forum/go_quote.gif For me, it's the added harshness of the Denons with LAME-v2-encoded source material that drops them below my Atrios in terms of listening enjoyment. A hint of excessive sibilance that few others seem to detect with their C700s is clearly -- and unpleasantly -- discernible with mine. While I do agree that their top-end sparkle surpasses that of the Atrios, this sibilance is enough to act as little jabs in the ear distracting me from the music. The Atrios, on the other hand, are immaculately smooth with the warmth and well-rounded bass my ears tend to prefer. While not as overtly dazzling in the high-end, they provide a more seductive and immersive listening experience. Keep in mind that I still highly value my C700s and have no intention of disposing of them anytime soon; they are, in fact, the best canalphones (vs. Atrio-esque IEMs) I've ever used, and these comments should be read as a comparison between two earphones I greatly enjoy -- not as an absolute slam against the C700s.

I have to also wonder what kind of music your hearing. Because it sounds like some sort of metal music. I listen to lot's of rock, but mostly prog rock and other rock but less metal. The Dennon's give great presentation of the full spectrum of sound. I have not heard the atrios but heard my brothers Ultimate Ears, not even remembering which version but they were 200 bucks and they sounded great and I would describe them like you describe your Atrios, but for my ears and taste, it's missing the high end clarity and crispness.

In other words for some genres of music the clarity of the Dennon's will give the better sound. IMHO

Also you might get a xin super mini and roll the opamps and get a nice warm sound out of your dennon's

 

[epithetless]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rickio /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have to also wonder what kind of music your hearing. Because it sounds like some sort of metal music. I listen to lot's of rock, but mostly prog rock and other rock but less metal.

That's a valid inquiry, but I listen to no metal whatsoever. My tastes do spread across the board, but I'd say the majority of my listening falls into the indie rock, pop rock, indie-folk, singer/songwriter, underground hip-hop, and electronica categories. The (very slight) harshness I've noted with my C700s is consistent regardless of the genre played through them; I should hope I'm experienced enough to judge every album by its own production values.

To address your burn-in question, neoufo51, my C700s came to me slightly used several months ago, and I believe the original owner had run about 40-50 hours of pink noise through them before putting them up for sale. I can't say how many hours I've logged on them myself, but it's possible they're not done changing yet.

Let me also add that I count (excessive) sibilance as the thorn in my musical side, so I'm particularly bothered by it where others may not even bat an eye/ear.

 

[Rickio]

I am still burning in my Dennon's , they did sound a bit harsh a few times at first but are quite smooth now. Still I have some time to go before it's fully burned in, but so far I enjoy them. I do admit the deeper bass of other IEM's can be really enjoyable and it's all about the music and enjoying it for me. This is my first IEM, all my other can's are full sized. I may try a few others eventually

 

[tstarn06]

Just checking in on this Atrio/Denon comparison, and I am with Epithetless on this one. I did lots of burn-in, but small bits of harshness seemed to creep into my listening experiences with the Denons, but not with the Atrios. And while I also love crisp, clear highs (hence, my purchase of a pair of 716s and owning Grado SR-80s), I also love the full, clean, smooth bass the Atrios deliver.

On an unrelated front, I didn't like the way the Denons felt in my ears, no matter which sized sleeves I used. I tried a pair of Shure foamies (orange), but they didn't do it either. I don't really like the canal phone feeling, preferring either IEMs with foamies or ear buds for a more transparent sound (hearing outside sound while listening).

But the reason I sold my Denons is I just didn't need another pair of phones, and they had a high resale value, almost what I paid for them. My "fleet" of phones covers all the bases for me, so if I yearn for a higher end/mid phone, I use the ALs, a more detailed phone, the PK1s, (both with the Minibox) and a clean, deep bass line calls for the Atrios.

Oh, the PK3s are the perfect on the go, no amp, easy to use phones. Need those too.

But the Denons are a fantastic canal phone, the best I've heard by far. Just didn't fit into my combo of phones, I guess.

 

[kite7]

How would you say the im716 faired against the c700?

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Amazon has the black c700K for $141 right now. It states that they have one left at that price.

 

[tstarn06]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kite7 /img/forum/go_quote.gif How would you say the im716 faired against the c700?

Well, I didn't have them at the same time. I can say that so far, even unmodded, the 716s (when driven with the Minibox or even the Penguin) have not delivered any sibilance to my ears. With the bass boost turned on (and the HD on the pod), the 716s really sound fantastic, and they are true IEMs, which I favor over canalphones for isolation.

Another thing...I paid $132 for the Denons, and $49 for the 716s. Using that number, the 716s are a much better value to me. I guess I wanted the 716s for more of an Ety sound, and the Denons have yet to be described as being Ety-like.

Again, I am not denigrating the Denons (hmm, nice alliteration), just saying they had some harshness to my ears and the form factor also wasn't to my liking. I bought them because some ex-Atrio owners said they were a better phone than the Atrios. Their experience didn't match mine. No biggie. But if you are not going to use an amp, I would not recommend the 716s (at least not unmodded).

On the other hand, I hate the freaking pod. It's like a weight on the cable, and the clip on it is relatively worthless.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Well, after much waffling and debate, I decided to pick up a Sony A816. Circuit City has them for $120 this week, so I ordered it online and will head over to the store at lunch to pick it up.

FWIW, I called Apple yesterday and talked to tech support regarding the 3G Nano and the 160Gig Classic. My specific question to the tech was if the 3G Nano utilizes the same Cirrus codec as the Classic. I told him I was either going to buy the Classic or the Nano, but I wanted to know if the signal path on the headphone jack for the Nano was cleaned up like the Classic's. Now, he could of told me that they were different and that I should buy the more expensive Classic for better SQ, but he didn't. He said the codecs are similar and based on the same chip, but the Nano has a slightly different firmware due to it's memory and different display. He said both have the same clean path to the headphone jack.

So I slept on it, but my main reason for buying the Sony was the $30 price drop and the fact it supports drag and drop since I'll be changing the music more often due to the lower capacity of the 4Gig model. That and the fact that it comes with the better headphones that I can give my wife for her iPod sealed the deal. However, I see a new 3G Nano in my wife's future.

Thanks for everyone's secondary comments regarding SQ and the different DAPs. I can't wait for my C700s to show up in two weeks once the rest of my Amazon order is in...