[Vincent604]

I've been reading the forum for about a day now research for the proper high end IEM that I'm about piss off my wallet for. But everyone have thier say in each IEM no matter what. I did get a little bit of information about the IEMs but I would appreciate it if anyone can RATE THEM by these categories: HIGHs, MIDs, LOWs, COMFORT, ISOLATION, CABLE, and SOUNDSTAGE.
Right now this is what I roughly know.

BTW, which one can i wear hanging down??, i don't want to wear over my ears!

Shure SE530
Highs: 7 (rolled off)
Mids: 10 (better/equal than any other)
Lows: 8 (comfortable and natural)
Soundstage: 9
Cable: 6 (it breaks easily still and its big and in the way)
Comfort: 9 (olive tips are great)
Isolation: 8

Westone 3
Isolation: ?
Comfort: 9
Cable: 10
Lows: 9
Mids: 7
Highs: 8
Soundstage: 7

Senn IE8
Highs: ?
Mids: ?
Lows: 10
Soundstage: 10
Cable: 10 (soft and light)
Isolation: 7
Comfort: ?


Mostly interested in comparison of west3 and ie8 now.

 

[hockeyb213]

I wouldn't say they microphonics on shure's are bad but the cable in general is

 

[Jerry Wang]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hockeyb213 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I wouldn't say they microphonics on shure's are bad but the cable in general is

yeah, as long as you tighten the rubber slide on the cable, it's fine.
and comparing to the 2007 se530 cable, the 2008 cable is MUCH better, it doesn't go stiff at all like it used to, thus more durable and doesn't crack.

 

[Vincent604]

but even so it would be nice if someone can help rate the rest of the iems or a comparison. i wanna weigh the strength and weaknesses of each iem in those categories before i purchase them... very soon

 

[forsberg]

Westone cable + comfort both should be 10.

I don't really think triple.fi and se530 bass should be at their numbers. Way too high, since the general consensus here is W3 > SE530 > TF10 for bass.

 

[jinx20001]

Quote:

Originally Posted by forsberg /img/forum/go_quote.gif Westone cable + comfort both should be 10. I don't really think triple.fi and se530 bass should be at their numbers. Way too high, since the general consensus here is W3 > SE530 > TF10 for bass.

why is that the general consensus for bass?? where have you got that from, i have heard some say the bass is good and some say the bass is bad, lets not forget that bass is a big range, sub bass, bass, mid bass, higher bass, lower mids, mids, higher mids, highs.

i find that most people on here see the mid bass as a bad point to the westone, for this reason i see no reason why the shures and triple fi dont deserve the scores they got for bass, the triple fi has been regarded as tight and deep, the shures as deep and empowering. i would perhaps rate the shures a 9 for bass and the triple fi a 8. i have not heard the westone's but i can tell you now i would not rate any armatures a 10 for bass, mids and highs maybe but for bass...no, I have not heard the IE8 but i believe this is more likely to be rated higher for bass than all the 3 mentioned.

and by saying the triple fi and shures bass are rated way too high i think your clearly bigging up the westones not having listened to the shures and triple fi because both have always been very highly regarded in the bass department, so far the westones have had mixed responses in the bass department. its clear it has more bass but for so long with IEM's more bass is not better.

edit: to the OP, i think the shures microphonics are minimal, in fact they are almost silent for me, being thick and heavy helps in this case because they dont flop about and using the cable clip keeps it steady and silent, id rate them at least a 7 in this department, ofcourse no IEM's are totally free from microphonics, its almost impossible, i also think the cable rating is unfair, especially as any new buyers are now likely to get newer cables which are fine. and when you do get the new cable i would rate it a 8 for sure as the thickness is great ( who wants thin cables at this price really? ) the only downer is the weight which isnt all that bad either, if not for the weight they would be a 9 IMO.
soundstage for IEM's is very good at least a 6, but IMHO i wouldnt rate any IEM's above a 8 in this catagory as nearly all IEM's are beaten by bigger headphones. i am not going to rate the others as i can honestly not remember too much about the triple fi, from what i remember it is good but i really couldnt give a true opinion.

 

[forsberg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jinx20001 /img/forum/go_quote.gif why is that the general consensus for bass?? where have you got that from, i have heard some say the bass is good and some say the bass is bad, lets not forget that bass is a big range, sub bass, bass, mid bass, higher bass, lower mids, mids, higher mids, highs. i find that most people on here see the mid bass as a bad point to the westone, for this reason i see no reason why the shures and triple fi dont deserve the scores they got for bass, the triple fi has been regarded as tight and deep, the shures as deep and empowering. i would perhaps rate the shures a 9 for bass and the triple fi a 8. i have not heard the westone's but i can tell you now i would not rate any armatures a 10 for bass, mids and highs maybe but for bass...no, I have not heard the IE8 but i believe this is more likely to be rated higher for bass than all the 3 mentioned. and by saying the triple fi and shures bass are rated way too high i think your clearly bigging up the westones not having listened to the shures and triple fi because both have always been very highly regarded in the bass department, so far the westones have had mixed responses in the bass department. its clear it has more bass but for so long with IEM's more bass is not better.

Well, general consensus based on the approx 1000 posts I've read about Westones before I bought them.

Actually I have listened to the Shures before, but when I compared it to the Westones it sounded similar in the 10 minutes I gave them. To my ears I can't give you a full review on their pros and cons and who had the best sub bass, bass, mid bass, higher bass, or whatever you want to sub-categorize, it really sounded the same. My purchase decision came because of Westone's better cable.

But I'm not bigging it up Westones or anything just because I own them. All I mentioned was one category based on what I've read here. In the same way, for highs, I read that TF10 > SE530 and W3, and for mids SE530 > TF10 and W3. Again this is the "general consensus" that I've read here.

 

[jinx20001]

fair enough answer, thanks for putting me straight.

big decision to pick headphones based on the cable tho. but saying that id like to have the one with the best cable if i thought they all sounded similar.

 

[forsberg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jinx20001 /img/forum/go_quote.gif fair enough answer, thanks for putting me straight. big decision to pick headphones based on the cable tho. but saying that id like to have the one with the best cable if i thought they all sounded similar.

Yeah, overall score I think they're all around the same. Just really comes down to one's preference for SQ, comfort, and price (factor for Europeans buying IE8).

But in the end, no one should be unhappy with any of these four top-of-the-line universal IEMs. If they are, then IEMs are probably not for them in the first place!

 

[BlueSwift]

I think you should put Sound Isolation for Sennheiser IE8 as 6 or 7. Yups!

 

[Signal2Noise]

Early thoughts on my SE530 which was an xmas gift. I've only listened to them for maybe a total of 10 hours so far.

-Good bass
-Good cable
-No microphonics
-Excellent soundstage
-Excellent comfort (using triple flange)

Overall, I couldn't be happier with them.

 

[Vincent604]

thanks eveyone who have replied so far I updated the ratings more today and changed it abit. I am no longer interested in triplefi10. Also my main comparison is between ie8 and west3 however i need more info for ie8. can anyone pitch in info for ie8??