DavidMahler
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Jul 8, 2007
- Posts
- 4,124
- Likes
- 352
Dear all you head-fiers.
This is my very first post on the website as I have been a bit shy for some time. Most of you seem to really know your stuff! And while I may have the ears of a budding audiophile, I certainly do not have the knowledge or experience in the field. Many years ago I acquired a degree in Audio engineering at the Institute of audio research, but I have forgotten a lot of things as I never really put most of the knowledge into daily practice.
I am presently looking to reward myself with the best possible portable rig, at any cost, even if it takes time for me to save up. I want to mention that I will be listening almost exclusively to classical music on an ipod, so please keep that in mind when addressing sound quality issues.
I actually have never been a fan of open headphones because I’m almost NEVER in a quiet environment. The headphones I’ve become most accustomed to are the Ultrasone Hfi-700. I’ll make a list of all the other headphones I’ve used:
1.Beyerdynamic DT 770 (80) [too dark for my taste]
2.Sennheiser 280 [liked the seal, the sound was mediocre, the comfort was less than okay]
3.Sony MDR 7506 [disliked them immensely]
4.Sony MDR 7509x [loved them for many years, but eventually felt they were muddy and at the same time peakish in the high mids]
5.Ultrasone Proline 650 [strange but I didn’t like them at all]
6.Ultrasone Proline 750 [I found these to be too bassy, and also a little peakish in the high mids]
The Ultrasone Hfi 700 when properly burned in sound very full and rich, but also very clear. However, I find the highs around 14K to be overly abrasive. I also didn’t love the portability of these phones, and most of all I became uncomfortable after an hour or so.
THUS BEGAN MY SEARCH FOR THE PERFECT IN EAR MONITOR…and it’s been very frustrating
Started with the Ety Er4p………great clarity, great seal, not so comfortable and lacking thump in the lows
Tried the Shure E530s……..initially I hated them, thinking they sounded muffled and gross. I played around with the foam sleeves and thought it was actually a very good pair of IEMs, but after a few days I went back to my Ultrasones just for a reference. The Ultrasones were MUCH MUCH better.
Tried the Westone UM2s……I can’t believe that some people praise these unlistenable earphones, it sounded like my friend’s oversaturated bose QC3s
Finally I bought the Ultimate Ears triple.fis………The sound was incomparable! Superior to my beloved ultrasones. The imaging and airiness was so unbelievable that it made up for the lack of soundstage inherent in the IEM design. HOWEVER, the darn things were super uncomfortable, AND had almost no isolation. I applied the Shure olive foamies as was recommended on the Head-fi website, however, I noticed that the Shure foamies would close at the tip when placed on the Ultimate Ears nozzle, and that would sometimes reduce the treble. I found this unacceptable so I’m back at square one.
Time to break out the custom molded IEMs………Please help me choose which one I should get.
I’m leaning towards the ue10s because of how much I love the sound of the Triple.fis
However, I’ve heard good things about the Sensaphonics and the Westones. I’m also nervous that I’ll spend 1000 dollars and the Ue11s will come out and outshine all the competition.
So let me tell you what I’m looking for in an IEM:
I like present, balanced bass with an honest thump, but I don’t like an extended bass like I’ve heard in the UM2s. I find the sound of exaggerated bass totally distorts the sound of an orchestra or a piano.
As far as mids go, I like them to be smooth and present and to not be blocked by the lows
I like the highs to be clear and obviously not shrill. I’m very sensitive to roll-offs
Great imaging is important to me.
Great comfort and great isolation are obviously important too!
Does anyone know how the Ue10s compare to the Triple.fis in terms of sound quality. I know the obvious hunch is that their custom model should be tons better than the Triple.fis, but an actual description of the sound similarities and differences would be very helpful to me.
I’m also looking into a better portable amp than the one I’m presently using. I’m using the Simpl A1 and I am fairly happy, but there is no volume adjustment.
I’m interested in a Ray Samuels portable amp, please tell me which one is the best to get, I will be using an ipod (not sure if I’m ready to iMod it yet) Can the Ray Samuels amps be velcroed onto the back of the ipod?
Thanks for your time!
-David
This is my very first post on the website as I have been a bit shy for some time. Most of you seem to really know your stuff! And while I may have the ears of a budding audiophile, I certainly do not have the knowledge or experience in the field. Many years ago I acquired a degree in Audio engineering at the Institute of audio research, but I have forgotten a lot of things as I never really put most of the knowledge into daily practice.
I am presently looking to reward myself with the best possible portable rig, at any cost, even if it takes time for me to save up. I want to mention that I will be listening almost exclusively to classical music on an ipod, so please keep that in mind when addressing sound quality issues.
I actually have never been a fan of open headphones because I’m almost NEVER in a quiet environment. The headphones I’ve become most accustomed to are the Ultrasone Hfi-700. I’ll make a list of all the other headphones I’ve used:
1.Beyerdynamic DT 770 (80) [too dark for my taste]
2.Sennheiser 280 [liked the seal, the sound was mediocre, the comfort was less than okay]
3.Sony MDR 7506 [disliked them immensely]
4.Sony MDR 7509x [loved them for many years, but eventually felt they were muddy and at the same time peakish in the high mids]
5.Ultrasone Proline 650 [strange but I didn’t like them at all]
6.Ultrasone Proline 750 [I found these to be too bassy, and also a little peakish in the high mids]
The Ultrasone Hfi 700 when properly burned in sound very full and rich, but also very clear. However, I find the highs around 14K to be overly abrasive. I also didn’t love the portability of these phones, and most of all I became uncomfortable after an hour or so.
THUS BEGAN MY SEARCH FOR THE PERFECT IN EAR MONITOR…and it’s been very frustrating
Started with the Ety Er4p………great clarity, great seal, not so comfortable and lacking thump in the lows
Tried the Shure E530s……..initially I hated them, thinking they sounded muffled and gross. I played around with the foam sleeves and thought it was actually a very good pair of IEMs, but after a few days I went back to my Ultrasones just for a reference. The Ultrasones were MUCH MUCH better.
Tried the Westone UM2s……I can’t believe that some people praise these unlistenable earphones, it sounded like my friend’s oversaturated bose QC3s
Finally I bought the Ultimate Ears triple.fis………The sound was incomparable! Superior to my beloved ultrasones. The imaging and airiness was so unbelievable that it made up for the lack of soundstage inherent in the IEM design. HOWEVER, the darn things were super uncomfortable, AND had almost no isolation. I applied the Shure olive foamies as was recommended on the Head-fi website, however, I noticed that the Shure foamies would close at the tip when placed on the Ultimate Ears nozzle, and that would sometimes reduce the treble. I found this unacceptable so I’m back at square one.
Time to break out the custom molded IEMs………Please help me choose which one I should get.
I’m leaning towards the ue10s because of how much I love the sound of the Triple.fis
However, I’ve heard good things about the Sensaphonics and the Westones. I’m also nervous that I’ll spend 1000 dollars and the Ue11s will come out and outshine all the competition.
So let me tell you what I’m looking for in an IEM:
I like present, balanced bass with an honest thump, but I don’t like an extended bass like I’ve heard in the UM2s. I find the sound of exaggerated bass totally distorts the sound of an orchestra or a piano.
As far as mids go, I like them to be smooth and present and to not be blocked by the lows
I like the highs to be clear and obviously not shrill. I’m very sensitive to roll-offs
Great imaging is important to me.
Great comfort and great isolation are obviously important too!
Does anyone know how the Ue10s compare to the Triple.fis in terms of sound quality. I know the obvious hunch is that their custom model should be tons better than the Triple.fis, but an actual description of the sound similarities and differences would be very helpful to me.
I’m also looking into a better portable amp than the one I’m presently using. I’m using the Simpl A1 and I am fairly happy, but there is no volume adjustment.
I’m interested in a Ray Samuels portable amp, please tell me which one is the best to get, I will be using an ipod (not sure if I’m ready to iMod it yet) Can the Ray Samuels amps be velcroed onto the back of the ipod?
Thanks for your time!
-David
